Character

Lucy

Afar Depression (Ethiopia) Between the year 3500000 B.C.E. and the year 3200000 B.C.E. ‖ Afar Depression (Ethiopia) Between the year 3500000 B.C.E. and the year 3200000 B.C.E.

Period of activity: Unknown date

Geographical classification: Africa > Ethiopia

Socio-cultural movements

Prehistory

Groups by dedication

Travellers / Expeditionaries > Travellers

Context of feminine creation

According to fossils found in Hadar, Lucy - Australopithecus afarensis - seems to have lived within a small social group. Lucy was small compared to the males of her species (sexual dimorphism). This has led to the belief that their society was dominated by males. It may have been a polygamous society, like gorilla groups are today. Males are usually considerably larger in species where one male controls multiple females.

The confirmation that the Australopithecus species walked on two feet came when Mary Leakey discovered a set of imprinted hominid footprints of three bipedal individuals - apparently a male, a female and a juvenile - on a layer of moist volcanic ash about three and a half million years old, near Laetoli, in Africa.

Later, in the year 2000, a large part of the skeleton of a three-year-old girl, called the Dikika Girl, appeared. The shape of her shoulders suggests that she could climb trees, but the angle of her knees indicates that she was bipedal.

Other human fossils of women that are very relevant to human evolution are the Girl of Gran Dolina (Homo Heidelbergensis), the woman of Georgia (Homo georgicus) and the Woman of the Flowers (Homo floresensis).

Review

Fossil of an Australophitecus afarensis, discovered in 1974 in the Afar region, Ethiopia. It is the skeleton of a female about 1 meter tall, weighing approximately 27 kg (in life), about 20 years old (wisdom teeth were just out) and who apparently had children. The name Lucy comes from the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, by The Beatles, which was being listened to by the members of the research group the night after the discovery. Her study was key to understanding the hominization process.

Activities

Spanish

Entrevista a Lucy
- Spain > Geography and history > 1st ESO > Societies and territories. Geography. History. History of art
- Spain > Geography and history > 2nd ESO > Societies and territories. Geography. History. History of art

Justifications

Female skeleton (52 bones) of Australopithecus afarensis found in the Afar region, Ethiopia.
Bipedal hominid, although she spent a lot of time in the trees, key to understanding the hominization process.

Biography

Lucy is a female skeleton, with 52 bones, found in Afar (Ethiopia), belonging to the species Australopithecus afarensis. This species lived between 3 and 3.9 million years ago in East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya) and preceded the genus Homo. She lived in cleared forests and had arboreal activity, where she collected fruits, slept or played. The latest studies reveal that the first remains of carved stone could have been the work of Australopithecus. They were bipedal, with a smaller cranial capacity, between 375 and 550 cc. There was a high degree of sexual dimorphism (physical difference between males and females of the same species). Their diet was mainly fuitarian, which is why they have large incisors. Their forehead was narrow with a marked supraorbital torus and all this gives them an appearance similar to that of a gorilla. The shape of the pelvis indicates upright bipedal walking. The birth canal was smaller than the current one. Their arms were long arms and their fingers and toes were curved.

Lucy was approximately one meter tall, weighed about 27 kilos and had recently erupted wisdom teeth, which suggests that she was approximately 20 years old when she died after falling from a tree. She had had children, although it is not known how many. Her brain size was similar to that of a chimpanzee. Her arms were very robust, which reinforces the idea that she spent a lot of time moving through the trees using them. According to fossils found in Hadar, Lucy appears to have lived within a small social group.

In 1974, a team of paleontologists discovered her remains and this represented an advance in the knowledge of the hominization process. By walking upright, a connection was made between four-legged primates and human bipedalism about 3.2 million years ago. Through this fossil it was proven that the ability to walk upright, like modern humans, was prior to the growth of the brain.

Her discoverers gave her the name of Lucy because in those days of the discovery they listened to the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, by the Beatles, on the radio. Currently, her remains are in a safe at the National Museum of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).

Works

Bibliography

Agustí, Jordi; Lordkipanidze, David (2005). Del Turkana al Cáucaso. Barcelona: Ed. RBA.

Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Martínez, Ignacio (1998). La especie elegida. Barcelona: Ed. Temas de Hoy S.A.

Lewin, Roger (1994). Evolución humana. Barcelona: Ed. Salvat.

“Lucy, el fósil que reescribió la historia de la evolución humana” en BBC news, retrieved on 05/03/2022, <https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2014/11/141128_lucy_fosil_evolucion_humana_lp >

“Evolución humana” en PastWomen, retrieved on 05/03/2022, <https://pastwomen.net/mujeres-en/evolucion-humana>

“Lucy,la Australophitecus más famosa del mundo” en Historia National Geographic, retrieved on 05/03/2022,

<https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/lucy-australopithecus-mas-famosa-mundo_9920>

Bloc de Daniel Tomás Puig, retrieved on 05/03/2022, <https://www.mclibre.org/otros/daniel_tomas/4eso/evolucion-humana/Australopithecus_afarensis.htm>

Didactic approach

She can be studied in the subject of geography and history of 1st of ESO and/or in socio-linguistic subjects.
She also connects to biology and geology, as well as philosophy.