Researchers have discovered two new species of early human

Researchers excavating in South Africa have just uncovered fossils from two previously unidentified species of hominin, or early human.

According to a report on the discoveries in the Journal of Human Evolution, the excavation team found two key specimens, a finger bone and a molar, in a the Sterkfontein Caves, just northwest of Johannesburg.

The study team said the two specimens are part of a set of four specimens, which appear to be from early on hominins. The remains are apparently linked with early stone tool-carrying sediments that came into the cave greater than 2 million years ago.

"The specimens are exciting not only because they are associated with early stone tools, but also because they possess a mixture of intriguing features that raise many more questions than they give answers," study author Dominic Stratford, an archeology lecturer at University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said in a statement.

A mix of modern and archaic features

The first fossil specimen, which is a big proximal finger bone, is appreciably larger and sturdier than any other hand bone of any hominin ever discovered in South African locations.

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