What made us human? Part of the answer may rest on the shoulders of a 3.3-million-year-old toddler.
Like “Lucy”—and unlike older, tree-based early human ancestors—the fossil child was a member of the species Australopithecus afarensis, pioneers of upright walking. Yet her apelike shoulder blades hint that our forebears may have taken longer than we thought to fully come down to earth, a new study says.
Figuring out when the tree-to-ground transition took place is immensely important to understanding how we became who we are. Bipedalism, after all, gave prehumans a literal head’s-up on approaching predators and freed up hands for stone tools, which in turn gave access to more types of food, including brain-boosting animal proteins—among other advantages.
Archaeological News: "Lucy's Baby" a Born Climber, Hinting Human Ancestors Lingered in Trees:
