This australopithecine species was discovered in 1996 in the Bouri Formation in Ethiopia by a joint Ethiopian-American expedition. The species name means “surprise” in the Afar language of the region, and it is indeed a surprise in many ways.
This find has attracted intense interest because of the contextual information discovered with the remains. Crude stone tools made of volcanic rock were found in the same site at Gona in Ethiopia and represent the oldest tools known—approximately 2.6 million years old. Nearby antelope bones have scratch marks made from butchering with such tools. It is not absolutely certain that A. garhi were the makers of those tools, but it seems likely.
Thus, while most australopithecine species were specialized plant-eaters, this one was apparently an omnivore like ourselves, a hunter, and a tool-maker. Obviously, those scientists interested in finding a transition species between the australopithecine and homo general are giving this species a close scrutiny. Some, including Donald Johanson and Tim White, are inclined to accept the possibility that this species gave rise to the earliest Homo species.
Others believe that it is more likely that this species was a competitor to early Homo species rather than an ancestor. Still, as one of the few species found in the 3 million to 2.3 million year era when the genus Homo presumably emerged, it provides food for thought. If it ate meat and made stone tools to butcher game, this is a creature who was occupying the same niche in the environment—and in the same region—as our earliest human ancestors.
BOU-VP-12/130, A. garhi, photograph by David Brill
BOU-VP-12/130, top view
Asfaw, B., T.D. White, O. Lovejoy, B. Latimer, S. Simpson, and G. Suwa. 1999. "Australopithecus garhi: A new species of early hominid from Ethiopia." In Science, vol. 284, 1999, pp. 629-635.
A summary of the article appears at http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/whatshot/1999/wh1999-1.htm
