A Hominid Skull Fossil Reveals the Face of Lucy's Possible
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Geologists Probe Hominid Environments
1999 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Geologists Probe Hominid Environments Gail M. Ashley, Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA, [email protected] ABSTRACT challenging areas of research often lie at artificially imposed disci- pline boundaries. Here lies the potential for synergy and perhaps The study of an early Pleistocene “time slice” in Olduvai even the generation of a new science (Fig. 2). However, integrat- Gorge, Tanzania, provides a successful example of a recon- ing sciences is not as easy as it might first appear. It requires peo- structed paleolandscape that is rich in detail and adds a small ple to learn language, theories, methodologies, and a bit about piece to the puzzle of hominid evolution in Africa. The recon- the “culture” of the other science and to continually walk in the struction required multidisciplinary interaction of sedimen- other person’s shoes. Simply having lots of scientists with differ- tologists, paleoanthropologists, paleoecologists, and geochro- ent backgrounds working in parallel on the same project doesn’t nologists. Geology plays an increasingly important role in produce the same end result as integrative science. unraveling the record of hominid evolution. Key questions This paper describes a study at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (Fig. regarding paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and perhaps even 3), using a relatively new approach, landscape paleoanthropol- hominid land use are answered by geology, and these answers ogy, that attempts to interpret the landscape during a geologic provide a basis for multidisciplinary work. Landscape pale- instant in time. The project is the Olduvai Landscape Paleo- oanthropology integrates these data from several disciplines anthropology Project (OLAPP), involving a multidisciplinary to interpret the ecological context of hominids during a nar- team. -
'Lucy' Fossil Found
Published online 20 September 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060918-5 News Little 'Lucy' fossil found Toddler hominin has arms for swinging and legs for walking. Rex Dalton The 3.3-million-year-old bones of a female toddler from Ethiopia are telling scientists a story about the route human ancestors took from the trees to the ground. In today's issue of Nature, an Ethiopian-led international team reports the discovery of a juvenile skeleton of the species commonly known as 'Lucy', or Australopithecus afarensis.1,2 The researchers have named her Selam, after an Ethiopian word for 'peace'. The specimen, which is the oldest and most complete juvenile of a human relative ever found, has features that stand as striking examples of part-way evolution between primitive apes and modern humans. Although many other samples of A. afarensis have been found before, this is the first one reported to come complete with a whole shoulder-blade bone (scapula). In modern humans the scapula has a ridge running horizontally across the top of the bone; in apes the scapula's ridge reaches further down the Little Salem is the most back, where it can help to throw more muscle into arm action, as would be needed to swing from trees. ancient toddler ever found. In the young A. afarensis, the scapula looks to be part-way between. Zeresenay Alemseged and Copyright Authority for Research and Conservation "The animal was losing its capacity to be arboreal — heading right toward being human," says of Cultrual Heritages anthropologist Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University in Ohio. -
Mechanics of Bipedalism: an Exploration of Skeletal Morphology and Force Plate Anaylsis Erin Forse May 04, 2007 a Senior Thesis
MECHANICS OF BIPEDALISM: AN EXPLORATION OF SKELETAL MORPHOLOGY AND FORCE PLATE ANAYLSIS ERIN FORSE MAY 04, 2007 A SENIOR THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- LA CROSSE Abstract There are several theories on how humans learned to walk, and while these all address the adaptations needed for walking, none adequately describes how our early ancestors developed the mechanism to walk. Our earliest recognizable relatives, the australopithecines, have several variations on a theme: walking upright. There are varied changes as australopithecines approach the genus Homo. These changes occurred in the spine, legs, pelvis, and feet, and changes are also in the cranium, arms and hands, but these are features that may have occurred simultaneously with bipedalism. Several analyses of Australopithecus afarensis, specifically specimen A.L. 288-1 ("Lucy"), have shown that the skeletal changes are intermediate between apes and humans. Force plate analyses are used to determine if the gait pattern of humans resembles that of apes, and if it is a likely development pattern. The results of both these analyses will give insight into how modern humans developed bipedalism. Introduction Bipedalism is classified as movement of the post-cranial body in a vertical position, with the lower limbs shifting as an inverted pendulum, progressing forward. Simply, it is upright walking. Several theories have addressed why bipedalism evolved in hominids, with some unlikely ideas taking hold throughout the history of the issue. Other theories are more likely, but all lack the same characteristic: answering how bipedalism developed. -
Anthro Notes : National Museum of Natural History Bulletin for Teachers
LUCY,UPATREE? Also, they argue, at least some of the A. afarensis hominids, especially the smaller ones like Lucy, no doubt slept, Paleoanthropologists no longer ques- hid, and fed in trees enough of the tion that Lucy, a 3 1/2 foot hominid time so that we can recognize some female with a chimp- sized brain, walked arboreal features in their anatomy. on two legs in Ethiopia about 3.5 million years ago. Neither do they argue that Susman and Stern presented their the anatomy of Lucy's species, Australo - evidence and analysis in an extensive pithecus afarensis , is fully modern; all article in the Journal of Physical agree it is a "mosaic of human-like and Anthropology (March 1983) , and at an ape-like features." No one seriously exciting and often boisterous confer- disputes that bipedal ism was more impor- ence in April. The conference, held tant to their lifestyle than for any non- at the Institute of Human Origins in human primate, living or dead. However, Berkeley, was directed by Donald C. Lucy's discoverers, Donald C. Johanson Johanson, founder of the Institute. and Tim White, claim that the bipedalism There the different factions met to seen in A. afarensis differs insignifi- examine the bones and thrash out their cantly from that of modern humans. Other many different views about two con- scientists disagree. troversies: 1) When did bipedalism begin and to what extent was Lucy Recently two noted anatomists from bipedal? 2) Did A. afarensis make the State University of New York at Stony the footprints at Laetoli or did Brook, Jack Stern and Randall L. -
Identity of Newly Found, Fully Intact Hominid Skulls from Ethiopia Chris Lemke College of Dupage
ESSAI Volume 7 Article 31 4-1-2010 Identity of Newly Found, Fully Intact Hominid Skulls from Ethiopia Chris Lemke College of DuPage Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai Recommended Citation Lemke, Chris (2009) "Identity of Newly Found, Fully Intact Hominid Skulls from Ethiopia," ESSAI: Vol. 7, Article 31. Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol7/iss1/31 This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at [email protected].. It has been accepted for inclusion in ESSAI by an authorized administrator of [email protected].. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lemke: Identity of Hominid Skulls Identity of Newly Found, Fully Intact Hominid Skulls from Ethiopia by Chris Lemke (Honors Biology 1151) ABSTRACT ecently, three fully intact hominid skulls have been found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. Objectives were to date the skulls using Uranium-235, and to identify each of the skulls. RUranium-235 dating indicated skulls A and B to be 2.9 million years old, and skull C to be 1.7 million years old. Each skull was properly identified using existing fossil data. The two oldest skulls were found to be Australopithecus afarensis, and A. africanus. The younger skull was identified as Homo habilis. A discrepancy was found in the measured cranial capacity data against existing data. Due to condition of the newly found fossils, the most likely explanation for the discrepancy is inaccuracy of existing fossil data due to incomplete and fragmented specimens, or that the skulls in question were representative of a juvenile hominid. -
The Reflection of an Ape an Aquatic Approach to Human Evolution
The Reflection of an Ape An Aquatic Approach to Human Evolution A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors with Distinction by Erica Kempf December 2006 Oxord, Ohio Acknowledgements There are a number of people I would like to thank for their help in the production of this story. Linda Marchant was my advisor and provided invaluable data, advice, support, and motivation during this venture. Lynn and Greg Kempf offered helpful feedback throughout, but especially during the early stages of writing. Mary Cayton and Scott Suarez kindly agreed to read the last draft of my project, and gave me final grammatical suggestions to further polish my final copy. I am also grateful to the people whose enthusiasm and moral support throughout the long process of writing this story kept me going: Amanda Zorn, Kait Jones, Ali Wolkin, Ashley Piening, Lindsay Good, Rachel Mount and Jamie Eckert. Special thanks also go to Randy Fiedler for the initial idea to begin this work and for his help in getting started. Table of Contents Introduction viii Map x Kinship Chart xi 1 Meer 1 2 Natte 13 3 Bain 18 4 Welle 22 5 Etang 28 6 Praia 34 7 Lago 39 8 Samman 43 9 Rio 47 10 Alga 51 11 Gens 56 Works Consulted 59 Introduction The study of how humans have come to be what we are has fascinated us for as long as we have written such things down, and for countless generations before that through oral histories. Every human culture has some type of creation myth, a tale of how people came to be on Earth, ranging from molded mud to thrown rocks to drops of deity’s blood and nearly everything in between. -
{Download PDF} from Lucy to Language Revised, Updated, And
FROM LUCY TO LANGUAGE REVISED, UPDATED, AND EXPANDED 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Donald C Johanson | 9780743280648 | | | | | From Lucy to Language Revised, Updated, and Expanded 1st edition PDF Book In this section the authors provide answers to the basics -- "What are our closest living relatives? Instead, the hominid fossil record suggests that our ancestry is better thought of as a bush, with the branches representing a number of bipedal species that evolved along different evolutionary lines. Evidence for Bipedalism Wren rated it really liked it Sep 19, This discovery prompted a complete reevaluation of previous evidence for human origins. The paleoanthropologist one who studies ancient humans works closely with scientific colleagues to raise funding to support field projects, with a primary expectation being the recovery of the fossilized remains of our ancestors. Like no species before us, we now seem poised to control vast parts of the planet and its life. The Early Human Fossil Record6. In the years since this dramatic discovery Johanson has continued to sco In in a remote region of Ethiopia, Donald Johanson, then one of America's most promising young paleoanthropologists, discovered "Lucy", the oldest, best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ever found. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. Thank you for signing up, fellow book lover! More books from this author: Donald Johanson. It is a combination of the vital experience of field work and the intellectual rigor of primary research. -
The Correlated History of Social Organization, Morality, and Religion
Chapter 5 The Correlated History of Social Organization, Morality, and Religion David C. Lahti Abstract Morality and religion have evolutionary and cultural roots in the social behavior of our ancestors . Fundamental precursors and major features of morality and religion appear to have changed gradually in concert with social transitions in our history. These correlated changes involve trends toward increased breadth and complexity of social interaction, leading to a stepwise extension of the scope of human sympathies to more inclusive social categories, and eventually the universal- ization of moral and religious concepts, practices, and explanations. These changes can be integrated provisionally into an eight-stage model of human social history, beginning with nepotism and dominance that are characteristic of many social mam- mals, and culminating in the intellectual ability and (sometimes) social freedom of modern human individuals to examine moral and religious conventions, to modify or reject them, and even to propose new ones. 5.1 Introduction In the last 2 million years, several unique traits have evolved in the human lineage: extraordinary intelligence, an unprecedented capacity for cultural transmission of ideas, morality, and religion. These traits are unlikely to have arisen by coincidence in the same species over the same period of time. In fact, evolutionary biologists have recognized important functional relationships between these traits (Alexander 1979). If a consensus is emerging as to the evolution of these features of mod- ern humans, perhaps it can be encapsulated as follows: human intelligence evolved as a social tool, facilitating cooperation within groups in order to more effectively compete between groups; the ensuing intellectual arms race selected for rapid cul- tural innovation and transmission of ideas; cooperative norms within social groups were formalized into the institution of morality; and religion grew out of obedience D.C. -
Lucy: Ethiopia's Star Skeleton
LESSON 4 Lesson Plans Lucy: Ethiopia’s Star Skeleton Context: Lucy, the skeleton of an early human ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis, was found in the Western Afar Rift, Ethiopia, in Africa. The archaeologists who found Lucy’s remains named her after a popular song. Annotations and Notes How did one of Ethiopia’s most famous “residents” come to be fossil: remains or traces of named after a Beatles’ song? It all began on November 30, 1974. It an organism turned to stone started out the same as any other day at Hadar, an archaeological by geochemical processes site in Ethiopia. Paleontologists Tom Gray and Donald Johanson surveying: an act of were exploring an area where they had found fossils before. As measuring and examining an they walked along, surveying the area, Johanson happened to area of land notice a small, broken piece of bone sticking out of the ground. As preserve: to keep he examined it, Johanson realized that the bone was anatomically (something) in its original similar to a human bone. As the two men continued to search state or in good condition the area, they realized that they had found about 40 percent of a geologist: a person who skeleton, and one that was very well preserved. studies rocks, layers of soil, etc., in order to learn about When they returned to collect and map the hundreds of pieces of the history of the Earth and the skeleton, a team of geologists and paleontologists realized its life that these bones belonged to a hominid that was approximately paleontologist: a person 3.18 million years old and, based on the size of the bones, female. -
Australopithecus Afarensis: Lucy and Her Relatives Her Relatives Were Very Early Forms of Humans
Australopithecus Afarensis: Lucy and her Relatives her relatives were very early forms of humans. One discovery about Lucy was In 1974, an American paleoanthropologist (studies ancient peoples) named Donald Johanson discovered a partial skeleton while searching especially exciting. By studying her for artifacts under a hot African sun. skeleton, scientists found out that she After careful study, Johanson determined that the bones had come was a biped, which means she had the from a female hominid who had lived more than 3 million years ago. ability to walk on two feet. This gave She is one of the earliest hominids ever discovered. Johanson Lucy and her relatives many advantages nicknamed her “Lucy.” compared with animals such as gorillas An anthropologist in Africa called the earliest known group of and chimpanzees. With their hands free, hominids Australopithecus (aws-tray-loh-PIH-thuh-kuhs), a Latin word the hominids could gather and carry meaning “southern ape.” Donald Johanson called Lucy's group food more easily. They could also use Australopithecus Afarensis. The second part of this name refers to the their hands to defend themselves and Afar Triangle, the part of Africa where Lucy was found. their children. Through their studies of Lucy, Scientists have learned a lot about This biped trait was one key way in early hominids. By assembling her bones, they know something about which Lucy resembled us. But in other what she looked like. Lucy was short compared with humans today – ways, hominids like Lucy were quite between 3 and 4 feet tall. She had a mix of ape and human features. -
The Brain in Hominid Evolution
v\useum o/ ,\. %,'*/ * \ 1869 THE LIBRARY j? THE BRAIN IN HOMINID P EVOLUTION PHILLIP V. TOBIAS The brain in hominid evolution g COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Q NEW YORK & LONDON i 9 yi Phillip V. Tobias is Professor of Anatomy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. This book is based on the author's James Arthur Lecture, delivered at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, April 30, 1969; it was the thirty-eighth in this series of lectures. Copyright © 1971 Columbia University Press International Standard Book Number: 0-231-03518-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-158458 Printed in the United States of America LIBRARY OFTHE AMERICAN MUSEUM JAMES ARTHUR LECTURES ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN BRAIN March 15, 1932 Frederick Tilney, The Brain in Relation to Behavior April 6, 1933 C. Judson Herrick, Brains as Instruments of Biological Values April 24, 1934 D. M. S. Watson, The Story of Fossil Brains from Fish to Man April 25, 1935 C. U. Ariens Kappers, Structural Principles in the Nervous System; The Development of the Forebrain in Animals and Prehistoric Human Races May 15, 1936 Samuel T. Orton, The Language Area of the Human Brain and Some of Its Disorders Apnl 15 R. W. Gerard, Dynamic Neural Patterns Franz Weidenreich, The Phylogenetic Development of the Hominid Brain and Its Connection with the Transformation of the Skull G. Kingsley Noble, The Neural Basis of Social Behavior of Vertebrates John F. Fulton, A Functional Approach to the Evolution of the Primate Brain Frank A. Beach, Central Nervous Mechanisms Involved in the Reproductive Behavior of Vertebrates George Pinkley, A History of the Human Brain James W. -
Lucy to Language: the Archaeology of the Social Brain
British Academy Centenary Research Project Lucy to Language: the Archaeology of the Social Brain Cumulative list of publications by Project members [2004-2008) In press (2010 and onward) Cashmore, L.A. (in press). Can hominin ‘handedness’ be accurately assessed? Annals of Human Biology. Clegg, M. (in press). The evolution of the human vocal tract: Specialised for speech? In: N.Brannigan & S.Mithen (eds) Music and Human Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coward, F. (submitted). ‘Relational Ecologies’. F. Coward & M. Grove (submitted). ‘Beyond the Tools: social innovation and hominin evolution’. F. Coward (in press). ‘Small worlds, material culture and Near Eastern social networks’, in R. Dunbar, C. Gamble & G. Gowlett (eds.), Social Brain, Extended Mind. London: British Academy. F. Coward & C. Gamble (in press). ‘Metaphor and Materiality in Early Prehistory’. In L. Malafouris & C. Renfrew (eds.) The Cognitive Life of Things. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs. von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Weaver, T.D. (2010). Insights from a quantitative genetic approach to human morphological evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology. In press. Dunbar, R.I.M. (in press). Darwin and the ghost of Phineas Gage: neuro-evolution and the social brain. Cortex. Dunbar, R.I.M. (in press). The social role of touch in humans and primates: behavioural function and neurobiological mechanisms. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 00: 000-000. Dunbar, R.I.M. (in press). Brain and behaviour in primate evolution. In: P.H.Kappeler & J.Silk (eds) Mind the Gap: Tracing the Origins of Human Universals. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press. Page 1 of 24 Dunbar, R.I.M. (in press). The social brain hypothesis and its implications for social evolution.