21.   But most paleoanthropologists place australopithecines in the direct lineage of human evolution, making Lucy a direct ancestor.

22.   Chambers said his findings show the direct ancestors of New Zealand Maori came from island groups northeast of New Zealand.

23.   Now the question is why these primitive people -- an evolutionary cousin of modern humans, although most scientists think they are not direct ancestors -- practiced cannibalism.

24.   Some experts have theorized that, due to the relatively young age placed on the Peking Man, primitive humans coexisted alongside direct ancestors of modern man.