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Australopithecus Homininsis Research Paper

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Australopithecus Homininsis Research Paper
Introduction
Australopithecus afarensis have commonly been found in sites such as Hadar, Ethiopia and Laetoli, Tanzania. An Australopithecus afarensis fossil was discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1974, by Donald Johanson. This fossil was scientifically known as Afar Locality (AL) 288-1 but would be commonly called Lucy. The significance of this fossil was that it contained 40% of its skeleton thus it became one of the most complete individual to be discovered. When Lucy’s skeletal remains were first discovered, many archaeologists worked hard to put together all forty seven bones, in order to understand the physical structure and to derive many unknown answers related to habitat, skills and diet. But most importantly, her structure explains …show more content…
To this date, there have been many controversies on “to what extent was Lucy bipedal?” which has been supported through evidences such as, the analysis of Lucy’s skeleton particularly her femur, careful examinations of the footprints in Laetoli and surveying the habitat of A.afarensis over a …show more content…
and Shapiro L.J. 2005. Metatarsophalangeal joint function and positional behavior in Australopithecus afarensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 93: 67-81

Gardner, Robert. 1999. Human Evolution. Canada: Grolier Publishing.

Johanson, D. – Academy of Achievement Photo Credit, Academy of Achievement Main Menu Web. Accessed November 16, 2012

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/joh1-026

Jungers, W. L. 1982. Lucy’s limbs: skeletal allometry and locomotion in Australopthecus afarensis. Nature 297: 676 – 678 Lewis, B., Jurmain, R. and Kilgore, L. 2010. Understanding Humans: Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Raichlen, D. A., Gordon, A. D., Harcourt-Smith. W. E. H., Foster, A .D. and Haas Jr, W. R. 2010. Laetoli Footprints Preserve Earliest Direct Evidence of Human-Like Bipedal Biomechanics. PLos One 5: 1-6

Stern, J.T., and Susman, R.L. 2005. The locomotor anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 60: 279 - 317

Ward, C. V., Kimbel, W. H. and Johanson, D.C. 2011. Complete Fourth Metatarsal and Arches in the Foot of Australopithecus afarensis. Science 331:
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