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Lucy, the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1974, showed that early human relatives walked upright long before large brains evolved.

Lucy, found at Hadar in 1974

EvolutionArchaeologyBiologyHistoryBiography

Why it matters

The idea in context

Lucy matters because she gives deep time a body. Her bones are not a complete person, but they are enough to show a small hominin who moved through trees and across ground, combining ape-like and human-like traits. The revelation is quietly radical: walking on two legs was not the final polish of humanity. It was an early experiment, older than the brain that later tried to explain it.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

1974'te Etiyopya'da bulunan Australopithecus afarensis iskeleti Lucy, erken insan akrabalarının büyük beyinler evrilmeden çok önce dik yürüdüğünü gösterdi.
1974'te Hadar'da bulunan Lucy

Lucy önemlidir; çünkü derin zamana bir beden verir. Kemikleri tam bir insan değildir, ama ağaçlarda ve yerde hareket eden, maymunsu ve insansı özellikleri birleştiren küçük bir hominini göstermeye yeter. Keşif sessizce radikaldir: iki ayak üzerinde yürümek, insanlığın son cilası değildi. Daha sonra onu açıklamaya çalışacak beyinden daha eski bir erken denemeydi.

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Background reading: Australopithecus afarensisAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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