Australopithecus sediba was an early hominid, an australopithecine, whose only discovered remains date to 1.78 to 1.95 million years ago in the Pliocene. The species is known from two partial skeletons discovered at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa, a juvenile male holotype and an adult female paratype. Over 130 elements of the species have been recovered to date.

The partial skeletons are initially described in two papers in the journal Science by Professor Lee R. Berger and colleagues as a new species of early human ancestor called Australopithecus sediba ("sediba" meaning "natural spring" or "well" in the Sotho language). The first specim of Australopithecus sediba was found by Lee Berger's son, Matthew, on August 15, 2008.

While exploring near his father's dig site in the plains north of Johannesburg, Matthew stumbled upon a fossilized bone. The boy alerted his father of the find who couldn't believe what he saw; "sticking out of the back of the rock was a mandible with a tooth, a canine, sticking out. And I almost died," he later recalled.

The fossil turned out to belong to a 4-foot-2 juvenille male, the skull of which was discovered in March 2009 by Berger's team. The find was annouced to the public on April 8, 2010. Also found at the archelogical site were a variety of animal fossils, including saber-toothed cats, mongoose, and antelopes.

Berger and geologist Paul Dirks speculated that the animals might have been fallen into a deep, 100-150 foot "death-trap", perhaps by the scent of water. The bodies may have then been swept into a pool of water rich with lime and sand, allowing the remains to be fossilized. The species is suggested by the authors to be a good candidate for being the transitional species between the southern African ape-man Australopithecus africanus (the Taung Child, Mrs.

Ples) and either Homo habilis or even a direct ancestor of Homo erectus (Turkana boy, Java man, Peking man). The species is described as having long arms, like an ape, short powerful hands, a very advanced pelvis and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human, although the femur and tibia are fragmentary and the foot is remarkably primitive. The cranial capacity is estimated at around 420 – 450 cc’s.

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