The discovery centers around teeth: that of a member of the genus Homo, of which we are a part, found next to the tooth of Australopithecus, the last in a line of apes that became humans. The team of paleontologists who found the teeth are following protocol and not inferring anything about how the two species interacted, but the fact is that the Homo tooth was the older of the two, showing that human evolution wasn’t linear.
That headline is really… rough. It underscores the very reason why evolution-deniers misunderstand the concept of evolving from another species. I’ve said it so many times: Science journalists are almost always terrible at their job.
Yeah, agreed. I originally read the “staggering” part to be the find itself, not the confirmation of the already well-regarded theory of contemporary existence, but I definitely see what you mean here.