Development of Early Humans: Perspective from a Paleontologist
Take a moment to read the following excerpt from a recollection of American paleontologist Donald Johanson, regarding his findings in Ethiopia with fellow researcher Tom Gray. As you read about the experience, try to determine what the scientists discovered, and how you would feel if you had been the person to make this discovery.
"[Gray] picked it up. It was the back of a small skull. A few feet away was part of a femur: a thighbone...
We stood up, and began to see other bits of bone on the slope: a couple of vertebrae, part of a pelvis - all of the hominid [belonging to the family of two-legged primates, extinct or living, including man].
An unbelievable, impermissible thought flickered through my mind. Suppose all of these fit together? Could they be parts of a single, extremely primitive skeleton? No such skeleton had ever been found - anywhere."
In 1974, Donald Johanson and Tom Gray made an incredible finding: the oldest and first complete adult female skeleton ever found. These scientists named the skeleton "Lucy." Lucy's skeletal remains suggested that she walked upright, and had an opposable thumb that enabled her to more easily make tools and pick up small objects. In addition, Lucy's ancestors were
Homo sapiens, the species name for modern humans. Equally as important, scientists were now able to produce the considerable evidence that placed the origin of the earliest humans in the Ethiopian Highlands of East Africa between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago. This image depicts a full replica of Lucy's skeleton, which is located in a museum in Mexico City.