Waubonsee Community College

From Lucy to language, Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar ; principal photography, David Brill

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-268) and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

From Lucy to language

bibliography

35085046

Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar ; principal photography, David Brill

In 1974 in a remote region of Ethiopia, Donald Johanson, then one of America's most promising young paleoanthropologists, discovered "Lucy", the oldest, best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ever found. This discovery prompted a complete reevaluation of previous evidence for human origins. From Lucy to language is an encounter with the evidence. Early human fossils are hunted, discovered, identified, excavated, collected, preserved, labeled, cleaned, reconstructed, drawn, fondled, photographed, cast, compared, measured, revered, pondered, published, and argued over endlessly. Fossils like Lucy have become a talisman of sorts, promising to reveal the deepest secrets of our existence. In Part II the authors profile over fifty of the most significant early human fossils ever found. Each specimen is displayed in color and at actual size, most of them in multiple views. With them the authors present the cultural accoutrements associated with the fossils: stone tools which evidence increasing sophistication over time, the earliest stone, clay, and ivory art objects, and the culminating achievement of the dawn of human consciousness - the magnificent rock and cave paintings of Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas

pt. 1. Central issues of paleoanthropology -- What is a human? -- Evidence -- Ancestors -- Lineages -- Migration -- Diversity -- Anatomy -- Society -- Bipedalism -- Customs -- Culture -- Imponderables -- pt. 2. Encountering the evidence -- Australopithecines -- Homo -- Paleolithic technology -- Appendix 1: Type specimens for hominid species -- Appendix 2: Hominid fossil and archeological sites