Paleontologists have found that died from “Lucy”, pramana humanity – RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, August 29 – RIA Novosti . The famous “Lucy” has died after falling from the tree, which indicates that the Afar australopithecines, alleged ancestors of the genus of Homo, have not lost the ability to climb trees in the transition to upright posture, it said in an article published in the journal Nature.

“Lucy – our greatest treasure she exists in only an instance of, and we naturally want it fully explore without destroying the fossils Computed tomography does not destroy the studied material samples, and it allows us to look inside her bones, to study their structure and location..” -. said Richard Ketch (Richard Ketcham) from the University of Texas at Austin (USA)

Missing link

Ketch and his colleagues at the university and researchers from University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) have uncovered the mystery of death and some features of the life of “Lucy”, has trained more than 35 thousand “slices” of her bones, obtained by the “raying” computer tomograph all known her remains.

On today there is no consensus among paleontologists and anthropologists about where is the birthplace of modern man, and when the first members of our genus. In this role equally claimed by two African Corner – National Park Awash in Ethiopia and the “cradle of humanity” in the Olduvai Gorge in South Africa

Driving drop “Lucy” from the tree

in favor of the former candidate says that the territory of the region in 1972 the remains were found “Lucy” – a young female Australopithecus afarensis, lived 3.18 million years ago in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Her limbs were adapted for bipedal locomotion, and many anatomical features were similar to what’s inside a person that has led many scientists to believe that “Lucy” is a kind of “mother of” the genus Homo.

Today, “Lucy” appeared strong competitors – “Littlfut” and “man-Star” Homo naledi from South Africa, so the scientists with a new interest in studying their remains in an attempt to find the real ancestor of the genus Homo. Guided by such a task, the scientific team Ketch “enlightened” her bones.

Surprisingly, the scientists came across traces of very heavy fracture right humerus, which resulted in the end of it was crushed, and from her split off many small and sharp pieces. Such fractures, as the researchers note, is extremely rare in the fossil record, which caused them to further explore this injury.

Eva Fall

“These compression fractures arise when the hand hits the ground during the fall, and the shoulder hit against each other, creating a unique pattern of cracks and splits in the humerus. it is ironic that Lucy serves a central element in the debate around what our ancestors lived in trees, dead fall from the tree, “- says John Kappelman (John Kappelman), colleague Ketchama at the University

according to the researchers, a similar, although less visible damage there and in other bones.” Lucy, “the large number of which indicates that the consequences of the fall were very heavy for foremothers of mankind. Their calculations show that the young female had to fall from a height of approximately 12 meters in order to obtain such an injury. She says Kappelman, fell feet first, trying to slow down the fall with his hands. Death was probably, almost instantaneous.

All data and pictures, as emphasized by researchers, were laid in the open access to anyone who can verify these amazing statement about the death of “Lucy” to use them to search for the roots of mankind.

in turn, the discovery that Lucy had died from the fall, paradoxically speaks in favor of the Afar australopithecines lived at the same time and in the savannas, and could spend a long time in the woods and on the branches of trees. Trees are reputed scientists, could initially serve as Australopithecus night refuge and source of food, and eventually, to the extent of climate change and the spread of African savannah, they are further away from life in the woods.