NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Lucy (Australopithecus)

Lucy (also given a second (Amharic) name: ድንቅነሽ dinqineš, or “Dinkenesh,” meaning “You are beautiful” or "you are wonderful"^[2]) is the common name of AL 288-1, the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered on November 24, 1974 by the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE; director: Maurice Taieb, co-directors: Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens) in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (400x700, 127 KB) Full replica of Lucys (Australopithecus afarensis) remains in the Museo Nacional de AntropologÃa at Mexico City. ... Binomial name Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist known for his discovery of the skeleton of a 3. ... Not to be confused with the Aramaic language. ... Binomial name Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3. ... is the 328th day of the year (329th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Dr. Maurice Taieb, (born 1935) is a Tunisian born French geologist and paleoanthropologist who discovered the Hadar formation, recognised its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founded the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE). ... Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist known for his discovery of the skeleton of a 3. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Discovery

Lucy came out of a giraffes ass 3 years ago. French geologist Maurice Taieb discovered the Hadar Formation in 2004. He then formed the IARE, inviting Donald Johanson, an American anthropologist now head of the Institute of Human Origins of Arizona State University, and Yves Coppens, a French born paleontologist now based at the Collège de France to co-direct the research. An expedition was formed with four American and seven French participants, and in the autumn of 1973 the team surveyed Hadar, Ethiopia for fossils and artifacts related to the origin of humans.^[3] Dr. Maurice Taieb, (born 1935) is a Tunisian born French geologist and paleoanthropologist who discovered the Hadar formation, recognised its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founded the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE). ... Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist known for his discovery of the skeleton of a 3. ... See Anthropology. ... Arizona State University (ASU) is a public research institution of higher education and research with campuses located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... Courtyard of the CollÃ¨ge de France. ... Hadar is a site on the Awash River in Ethiopia, in the Afar Triangle. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ...

In November 1973, near the end of the first field season, Johanson noticed a fossil of the upper end of a shinbone, which had been sliced slightly on the front. The lower end of a thighbone was found near to it, and when he fitted them together the angle of the knee joint clearly showed that this fossil, reference AL 129-1, was an upright walking hominid. Over three million years old, the fossil was much older than any others known at the time. The site lay about two and a half kilometres from the site at which they subsequently found "Lucy".^[4]^[5] AL 129-1 is the fossilized knee joint of the species Australopithecus afarensis. ... A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ...

The team returned for the second field season in the following year and found hominid jaws. Then, on the morning of November 24, 1974,^[2] near the Awash River, Johanson abandoned a plan to update his field notes and joined one of his students, Tom Gray, in taking their Land Rover to Locality 162 to search for bone fossils.^[6] is the 328th day of the year (329th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... The Awash (sometimes spelled Hawash) is a major river of Ethiopia. ... Land Rover was the name of one of the first British civilian all-terrain utility vehicles, first produced by Rover in 1947. ...

Both Johanson and Gray spent a couple of hours on the increasingly hot arid plains, surveying the dusty terrain, then Johanson decided on a hunch to make a small detour on their way back to the Land Rover to look at the bottom of a small gulley that had been checked at least twice before by other workers. At first sight there was virtually no bone in the gulley, but as they turned to leave, a fossil caught Johanson's eye; an arm bone fragment lying on the slope. Near it lay a fragment from the back of a small skull. As they looked further, they found more and more bones, including part of a thighbone, vertebrae, part of a pelvis indicating that the fossil was female, because she had a vagina, ribs, and pieces of jaw. They marked the spot and returned to camp, excited at finding so many pieces apparently from one individual hominid.^[1]^[7]

In the afternoon, everyone on the expedition was at the gully, sectioning off the site and preparing for careful collection which eventually took three weeks. That first evening they celebrated at the camp, staying up all night, and at some stage during the evening the fossil AL 288-1 was nicknamed Lucy, after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which was being played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder in the camp.^[8] The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a song written mainly by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and recorded by The Beatles for their 1967 album Sgt. ...

Over the three weeks, several hundred pieces or fragments of bone were found, with no duplication, confirming their original speculation that they were from the one skeleton. As the team analyzed the fossil further, they calculated that an amazing 40% of a hominin skeleton had been recovered, an astounding accomplishment in the world of anthropology. Usually, only fossil fragments are discovered; rarely are skulls or ribs found intact. Johanson considered it was female based on the one complete pelvic bone and sacrum indicating the width of the pelvic opening.^[9] Lucy was only 1.1 m (3 feet 8 inches) tall, weighed 29 kilograms (65 lb) and looked somewhat like a Common Chimpanzee, but although the creature had a small brain, the pelvis and leg bones were almost identical in function with those of modern humans, showing with certainty that these hominins had walked erect.^[10] For other uses, see Female (disambiguation). ... Binomial name (Blumenbach, 1775) distribution of Common Chimpanzee. ...

Johanson and his colleague Tim White, a Californian born paleoanthropologist, placed Australopithecus afarensis as the last ancestor common to humans and chimpanzees living from 3.9 to 3 million years ago. Although fossils closer to the chimpanzee/human common ancestor have been recovered since the early 1970s, Lucy remains a treasure among anthropologists studying human origins. The fragmentary nature of the older fossils furthermore deter confident conclusions as to the degree of bipedality or their relation to true hominines. There are several notable Tim Whites including: Tim White (anthropologist). ... Paeloanthropology is the branch of physical anthropology that focuses on the study of human evolution. ...

Johanson brought the skeleton back to Cleveland, under an agreement with the government of Ethiopia, and returned it according to agreement some 9 years later. Lucy as a fossil hominin significantly captured public notice, becoming almost a household name at the time. Cleveland redirects here. ...

Currently, the prevailing opinion is that the Lucy skeleton should be classified in the species Australopithecus afarensis. Lucy is preserved at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A plaster replica is displayed instead of the original skeleton. A cast of the original skeleton in its reconstructed form remains on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History^[11]. A diorama of Australopithecus afarensis and other human predecessors showing each species in its habitat and demonstrating the behaviors and capabilities that scientists believe it had is displayed in the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The National Museum of Ethiopia (sometimes also referred to as the Ethiopian National Museum) is the primary museum in Ethiopia. ... For the long-distance runner, see Addis Abebe. ... The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland, Ohio in University Circle, a 500 acre (2 km²) concentration of educational, cultural and medical institutions. ... The Hall of Human Biology and Evolution, originally known under the name Hall of the Age of Man, is located on the first floor of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Further discoveries of afarensis specimens occurred during the 1970s giving anthropologists a much better appreciation of the range of variability and sexual dimorphism of the species. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

Notable characteristics

Postcranial

One of the most striking characteristics possessed by Lucy was a valgus knee, which indicated that she normally moved by walking upright. Her femoral head was small and her femoral neck was short, both primitive characteristics. Her greater trochanter, however, was clearly derived, being short and human like rather than taller than the femoral head. The length ratio of her humerus to femur was 84.6% compared to 71.8% for modern humans and 97.8% for common chimpanzees, indicating that either the arms of A. afarensis were beginning to shorten, the legs were beginning to lengthen, or that both were occurring simultaneously. Lucy also possessed a lumbar curve, another indicator of habitual bipedalism. Genu valgum, commonly called knock-knees, is a condition where the knees angle in and touch one another when the legs are straightened. ... Bipedalism is standing, or moving for example by walking, running, or hopping, on two appendages (typically legs). ... The femur or thigh bone is the longest, most voluminous, and strongest bone of the mammalian bodies. ... Bones of the Hip In anatomy, the hip is the bony projection of the femur, known as the greater trochanter, and the overlying muscle and fat. ... The humerus is a long bone in the arm or fore-legs (animals) that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. ... The femur or thigh bone is the longest, most voluminous, and strongest bone of the mammalian bodies. ... The lumbar vertebrae are the largest segments of the movable part of the vertebral column, and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse process, and by the absence of facets on the sides of the body. ...

Pelvic girdle

Johanson was able to recover Lucy's left innominate bone and sacrum. Though the sacrum was remarkably well preserved, the innominate was distorted, leading to two different reconstructions. The first reconstruction had little iliac flare and virtually no anterior wrap, creating an ilium that greatly resembled that of an ape. However, this reconstruction proved to be faulty, as the superior pubic rami would not have been able to connect if the right ilium was identical to the left. A later reconstruction by Tim White showed a broad iliac flare and a definite anterior wrap, indicating that Lucy had an unusually broad inner acetabular distance and unusually long superior pubic rami. Her pubic arch was over 90 degrees, similar to modern human females. Her acetabulum, however, was small and primitive, like that of a chimpanzee. The hip bone (or innominate bone) is a large, flattened, irregularly shaped bone, constricted in the center and expanded above and below. ... For the record label, see Sacrum Torch. ... The ilium of the pelvis is divisible into two parts, the body and the ala; the separation is indicated on the internal surface by a curved line, the arcuate line, and on the external surface by the margin of the acetabulum. ... The superior pubic ramus extends from the body to the median plane where it articulates with its fellow of the opposite side. ... Tim White (born August 24, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is an American Paleoanthropologist. ... The acetabulum is a concave surface of the pelvis, formed by the parts of three bones. ... This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Categories: Anatomy stubs | Skeletal system ...

Cranial specimens

The cranial evidence recovered from Lucy are far less derived than her postcranium. Her neurocranium is small and primitive, while she possesses more spatulate canines than apes. In zootomy, several terms are used to describe the location of organs and other structures in the body of bilateral animals. ... The Canine teeth are the long, pointed teeth used for grabbing hold of and tearing apart foods, also called cuspids, dogteeth or fangs. Species that feature them, such as humans and dogs, usually have four, two in the top jaw, two in the lower, on either side of the Incisors. ...

This was due to the earlier belief (1950-1970's) that increasing brain size of apes was the trigger for evolving towards humans. Before Lucy, a fossil called '1470' (Homo rudolfensis) with a brain capacity of about 800 cubic centimetres had been discovered, an ape with a bigger brain. If the older theory was correct, humans most likely evolved from the latter. However, it turned out Lucy was the older fossil, yet Lucy was bipedal (walked upright) and had a brain of only around 375 to 500 cc. These facts provided a basis to challenge the older views. This article is about the biological superfamily. ... For the history of humans on Earth, see History of the world. ... Skull 1470 is the skull of an early hominid. ... Binomial name â€ Homo rudolfensis Alexeev, 1986 Homo rudolfensis is a fossil hominin species proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev for the specimen Skull 1470 (KNM ER 1470)[1]. Originally thought to be a member of the species Homo habilis, the fossil was the center of much debate concerning its... Cranial capacity is a measure of the volume of the interior of the cranium (also called the braincase or brainpan) of those vertebrates who have both a cranium and a brain. ... A cubic centimetre (cm3) is an SI derived unit of volume, equal to the volume of a cube with side length of 1 centi metre. ...

US tour

A six-year exhibition tour of the United States titled Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopa features the Lucy fossil as well as over 100 artifacts from ancient times to the present. The tour was approved by the Ethiopian government and organized in collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where it will be on display from August 31, 2007 to April 20, 2008.^[12] An undisclosed proportion of the proceeds from the tour is to go toward modernizing Ethiopia's museums.^[13] The U.S. Department of State also approved the tour. There was controversy in advance of the tour over concerns about the fragility of the specimens, with various experts including paleoanthropologist Owen Lovejoy and anthroplogist and conservationist Richard Leakey publicly stating their opposition. The Smithsonian Institution was amongst museums declining to host the exhibits.^[14] The fossil's discoverer Don Johanson stated that although he was somewhat uneasy about the possibility of damage, he did not oppose exhibiting Lucy as it will help to raise awareness of human-origins studies. The museum is making arrangements for the exhibits to be shown at as many as ten other museums.^[13] Template:Reqcleanup The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a museum located in Houston, Texas. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (common) era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... In 1977, Leaky sat next to the rare Half Monkey Half Man, who took a bite out of him, and made Leaky cry. ... The Smithsonian Institution can refer to two things: The Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, DC The Smithsonian Institution is a novel by Gore Vidal This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Contents

Discovery

Notable characteristics

Postcranial

Pelvic girdle

Cranial specimens

US tour

See also

References

External links