The most famous member of the human family tree was a fossil named “Lucy”. Lucy was a fossil discovered in 1974, and named after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. “Lucy lived some 3.2 million years ago. She belonged to the species Australopithecusafarensis” ( Bower) Lucy was a hominid, that means she came from the same family as our most recent ancient relatives and humans. The reason for being such a famous member of the family tree is because it is one of the few full skeletons of our most recent ancient relatives. Lucy plays a great role in our study of human evolution. A recent study has revealed how we think Lucy died 3.2 million years ago. We now believe that Lucy fell to her death from a large tree. The studies show …show more content…
Tim White a paleoanthropologist at the University of California says Lucy falling from a tree is non sense, and just a story for media attention. “ The cracks and breaks throughout Lucy’s skeleton occurred after her death, White asserts.”(Bower) White thinks the breaks and cracks occurred after death from fossilization. “Breaks much like Lucy’s and due to fossil-forming, can be seen in the bones of many nonclimbing animals” (Bower).Non climbing animals like hippos and rhinos have been known to have the same cracks and breaks in their bones. “Doctors have documented frequent bone breaks when people accidentally fall from heights between two and 21 meters (seven and 69 feet), White adds. Such breaks have been found in the spine, head, elbows, wrists, ankles and feet. But they have not been found in the shoulders.” (Bower) Lucy’s shoulders appeared to be broke in Kappelman’s research but the fact that doctors don’t normally have people who have fallen anywhere from 7-69 feet get broken shoulders contradicts Kappelmans argument and backs up Whites argument. Donald Johanson was the leader of the team who found Lucy. In 1982 a team led by Donald Johanson could not find the cause of death for Lucy. White was a part of this team in 1982. This team believed in 1982 that most of the bone damage to fossilization and they still stand behind that reasoning …show more content…
William Jungers is one of those people and he is a paleoanthropologist at Stony Brook Medical Center in New York. “But the evidence indeed points to a fatal fall, he now argues. No other explanation can account for Lucy’s pattern of bone damage.” (Bower) They are arguing that the cracks in the shoulder are from fossilization and the other cracks are from the fatal falls. Either way there is no way without traveling back 3.2 million years to tell what Lucy’s cause of death was so it is all what you think and
In the 1930s, a strange bone was found on the shore of the lake by Oscar Frederickson. The bone was believed to be a spinal vertebra. Sadly, the original bone was lost in a fire, but a wooden copy was made. The bone was showed to Dr. James McLeod of the University of Manitoba, who felt it resembled a vertebra. However, he felt it was the vertebra of a whale-like creature that had been extinct for over four million years.
Finally, Lucy is a clear possible ancestor to mankind which supported the evolutionary theory. Lucy, an Australopithecus, lived 3.2 million
Given the above considerations, Margaret's osteoporotic femurs are vulnerable to fracture because of (A) the loss of spongy bone in the epiphyses and (B) the thinning of the bony collar in the diaphysis.
The Black Hills Institution crew was very careful when transporting and Sue to Hill City. After arriving, the crew worked hard and carefully on preserving Sue and avoiding to make any mistakes. The people who worked on her when removing rocks and minerals from around the fossil were considered one of the best paleontologists even though they did not have a Ph.D. This said by Phillip Manning Ph.D. It was see y many that the Black Hills Institution knew
Ardipithecus has been discovered, an Ancestor that dates back prior to the remains of Lucy. In the article written by Ann Gibbons and others, it dives into the discovery of our most ancient ancestor and the clues given to us from all 110 remains that have been found of A. ramidus. First let me begin with Lucy whose remains were found in 1974 and that dated back to 3.2 million years ago. These skeletal remains gave us the evidence needed to prove that our ancient ancestors were bipedal before evolving their big brains. After Lucy was discovered the scientist found themselves with even more questions, such as, were any previous ancestors before Lucy bipedal or did
Sir Astley Paston Cooper was a famous English physician, anatomist, and surgeon who first discovered the association between fractures and bone density reduction because of aging which created the base for discovering Osteoporosis. Another person who helped with the discovery of osteoporosis was Jean Lobstein. Around 1833, Lobstein was the first person to medically describe the pathological condition and appearance of Osteoporosis. He described the condition as, “One with holes in the bone associated with fragility”. He was also the one who named the disease. Another important discovery of the disease is the relationship between osteoporosis with the postmenopausal state, which was discovered by Fuller Albright. Albright discovered that there is a direct relationship between the lack of estrogen after menopause and the development of osteoporosis. After menopause, bone breakdown outrun the building of new bone. Early menopause, usually before the age of 45, and any prolonged period in which hormone levels are low and menstrual
(D) - Donald Johanson discovered the australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as “Lucy”. “Lucy” was named as such after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, as it had been playing in the expedition camp. Using a famous song to name the skeleton increased public awareness of early humans and evolution studies. Donald Johanson’s discovery allowed researchers a much better understanding of what australopithecus afarensis looked like.
Despite her short stature and hirsute frame, Lucy the Australopithecus afarensis, whose discovery is today commemorated with a Google Doodle, was from a species that could be a forerunner to modern humans.
Through her extensive work, Mary Anning’s discoveries provided factual evidence to support the theories of evolution and extinction, resulting to an increased understanding and in-depth knowledge of the structure and nature of extinct creatures from early pre-historic Earth. Scientists and the general public during this era were skeptical of the idea that organisms could be extinct and/or change structurally over the years through natural selection, however, the discovery of the bizarre fossils found by Mary Anning became evidence for these ideas. Through Mary Anning’s legacy, modern-day scientists have now discovered even more evidence that supports the ideas and theories that were suggested during the 1800’s. From result of the discoveries of Mary Anning, our current understanding of the history of life on Earth has developed drastically through her contribution to paleontology and the discoveries of fossil evidence for organisms of early
Evidence has a role that is vital to the investigation for without it theories would have no legs to stand on. A primary source was the skeleton. When the skeleton was studied there
The book identifies “Lucy” as an ancient demonstration of bipedalism and a bowl-shaped pelvis. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, had both ape-like and human features. The adaptations she exhibited are an example a further branching off of species. Aside from bone structure, I found it logical that early hominids
Apart from “Lucy”, there have been hundreds if not thousands of human fossils found. Archaeologists could tell by the Homo Erectus fossils found that this species of hominids had a brain larger than any of its ancestors, was robust, and possibly the smartest species of its time. Some interesting evidence found to support this claim span from South Africa, North America, and even Asia. There has been traces of ash found in the Wonderwerk Cave of South Africa dating back to about 1 million years ago, including traces of fire similar to traces found in Israel dating back as far as 800,000 years ago. Later, there were also ancient stone tools and hand axes discovered in caves located in China, suggesting that the people inhabiting the area were hunters or created these objects to cut some type of tough material.
In 1974, on an Ethiopian stream bed, Lucy an early human ancestor/australopithecus was discovered, she was alive 3.18 million years ago. In 2016 John W. Kappelman a professor of anthropology, made a hypothesis on how Lucy died. Scientist believe that Lucy saw a predator and climbed up a tree, but because Lucy was better at walking than climbing she fell out of the tree. The scientists thought this because there were breaks in her bones that were similar to injuries from falling out of a tree. Based off of a CT scan scientists have found out that there are clean breaks and intact tiny bone slivers. The very first hypothesis about how Lucy died was made 42 years after she was discovered. In social Studies we are learning about early humans like Lucy.
Starting in 2008, Kappelman used a high-tech machine to scan and study Lucy’s fractures. This machine was designed to scan through materials as solid as a rock and could scan at a higher resolution than medical CT scans. Kappelman and geological sciences professor, Richard Ketchman, spent ten days carefully examining her 40 percent complete skeleton to create a digital archive of more than 35,000 CT slices. Something that was not noticed in the original article was an unusual fracture at the end of the right humerus, presented in a way not usually seen by fossils. Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Stephen Pearce, concluded that the fracture was consistent with aproximal humerus fracture, caused by a fall from a considerable height. Therefore, Pearce’s new discovery provides information consistent with all the previous hypotheses of Lucy’s fall from a
Princess Margaret Rose Cave has been answering questions for a long time. They will answer to the best of their ability. Princess Margaret Rose Cave has done a lot of interviews in the past years, most concentrating on the stalactites formation and why it fell. It is a reliable source as they do answer truthfully and they have had experience in answering questions.