Find threatens to 'turn evolution on its head'

The overly dramatic headline of the interesting submitted article and the back-and-forth among the scientists quoted in the article is largely explained by this passage from page 332 of the new book Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters by Donald R. Prothero:

"The study of human fossils is one of the most crowded and contentious of any scientific field I've ever seen. Although the human fossil record is now quite impressive and includes thousands of specimens (fig. 15.2), there are also thousands of physical anthropologists who must 'publish or perish,' and who need to make a career somehow. Most of the best fossils are typically studied by those who have the funding and the access to key sites in Africa and elsewhere, so the rest of the profession has to make careers whatever way they can. Consequently, every idea and every specimen in hominid paleontology is challenged and restudied and reinterpreted many times . . . "