Early Hominids

     Last year marked the discovery of a three million year old foot bone that resembled an early hominid species. This scientific breakthrough revealed that a member of the hominid species known as, Lucy might have walked upright. Research and analyses indicated that the early species of hominids known as, Australopithecus afarensis, were able to climb trees as well as travel on four limbs. The study of the anatomical structure of the shoulder bones on a three-year-old hominid, Selam, concluded these statements. Zeresenay Alemseged, a paleoanthropologist at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco indicates, “The position or orientation of the shoulder joint was very gorilla like”. “We compared it to the primate database” (Alemseged). According to Alemseged and his colleague David J. Green, an anatomist at Midwestern University, “this is the earliest, most complete scapula ever analyzed” (Alemseged, Green). The two researchers also published their findings in the current issue of the journal Science. Speculation arose that the early species Lucy, Selam and their kin climbed trees to protect themselves from predators as well as in search of food and maybe even shelter. The amount of time the early hominids resided in trees is unknown and difficult to infer, however research has revealed many similar characteristics with this species to human like bone structure. 

* Information obtained at www.nytimes.com

* Pictures obtained at www.cryptomundo.com & www.popular-archaeology.com

 Figure 18.1

 Figure 18.2