Was Australopithecus sediba Polygamous? Paleontologist Answers Reader Questions about New Early Human Fossils

During a recent reporting trip to South Africa for a forthcoming feature article on a new fossil human species called A ustralopithecus sediba , I asked readers to submit their questions about this dazzling find. Inquiries about the nearly two-million-year-old hominin–which has been held up as a possible ancestor of our genus, Homo –came in via Twitter, Google Plus and the comments section of this blog. I put them to paleontologist Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who found the Au. sediba remains at a site called Malapa, some 30 kilometers north of Johannesburg. Reader questions and Berger s answers follow below.

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