Short note: The track of a new cradle of mankind in Sahelo-Saharan Africa (Chad, Libya, Egypt, Cameroon)

This paper deals with the impact of the successive discovery of two early hominids from Mio-Pliocene of Chad (Australopithecus bahrelghazali, nicknamed Abel dated to 3.5 Ma and Sahelanthropus tchadensis, nicknamed Toumaï dated to 7 Ma) on our understanding of how far back go the roots of mankind and what kind of environment they lived in. These discoveries introduce new geographic and phylogenetic paradigms to explain the African evolution of our prehuman ancestors.

Research highlights
► Toumaï, the oldest hominid fossil found in the australopithecine family.
► Roots and environment of the ancestors of mankind.
► An exclusively south or east African origin of the hominid clade in question.
► Two new paradigms to explain the African evolution of prehuman ancestors.