Early Footprints Found In the 1970s, archaeologist Mary
Leakey led a scientific expedition to the region of Laetoli in
Tanzania in East Africa. (See map on page 10.) There, she
and her team looked for clues about human origins. In 1978,
they found prehistoric footprints that resembled those of
modern humans preserved in volcanic ash. These footprints
were made by humanlike beings now called australo-
pithecines (aw•stray•loh•PIHTH•ih•synz). Humans and other
creatures that walk upright, such as australopithecines, are
called
hominids. The Laetoli footprints provided striking
evidence about human origins:
PRIMARY SOURCE
What do these footprints tell us? First, . . . that at least
3,600,000 years ago, what I believe to be man’s direct ancestor
walked fully upright. . . . Second, that the form of the foot was
exactly the same as ours. . . . [The footprints produced] a kind
of poignant time wrench. At one point, . . . she [the female
hominid] stops, pauses, turns to the left to glance at some
possible threat or irregularity, and then continues to the north.
This motion, so intensely human, transcends time.
MARY LEAKEY, quoted in National Geographic
The Discovery of “Lucy” While Mary Leakey was working
in East Africa, U.S. anthropologist Donald Johanson and his
team were also searching for fossils. They were exploring
sites in Ethiopia, about 1,000 miles to the north. In 1974,
Johanson’s team made a remarkable find—an unusually com-
plete skeleton of an adult female hominid. They nicknamed
her “Lucy” after the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”
She had lived around 3.5 million years ago—the oldest
hominid found to that date.
Hominids Walk Upright Lucy and the hominids who left
their footprints in East Africa were species of australopithecines. Walking upright
helped them travel distances more easily. They were also able to spot threatening
animals and carry food and children.
These early hominids had already developed the opposable thumb. This means
that the tip of the thumb can cross the palm of the hand. The opposable thumb was
crucial for tasks such as picking up small objects and making tools. (To see its
importance, try picking up a coin with just the index and middle fingers. Imagine
all the other things that cannot be done without the opposable thumb.)
The Old Stone Age Begins
The invention of tools, mastery over fire, and the development of language are
some of the most impressive achievements in human history. Scientists believe
these occurred during the prehistoric period known as the Stone Age. It spanned a
vast length of time. The earlier and longer part of the Stone Age, called the Old
Stone Age or
Paleolithic Age, lasted from about 2.5 million to 8000 B.C. The old-
est stone chopping tools date back to this era. The New Stone Age, or
Neolithic
Age, began about 8000 B.C. and ended as early as 3000 B.C. in some areas. People
who lived during this second phase of the Stone Age learned to polish stone tools,
make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals.
Drawing
Conclusions
Why were the
discoveries of
hominid footprints
and “Lucy”
important?
The Peopling of the World 7
The Leakey Family
The Leakey family has had a
tremendous impact on the study of
human origins. British anthropologists
Louis S. B. Leakey (1903–1972) and
Mary Leakey (1913–1996) began
searching for early human remains in
East Africa in the 1930s. Their efforts
turned what was a sideline of science
into a major field of scientific inquiry.
Mary became one of the world’s
renowned hunters of human fossils.
Their son Richard; Richard’s wife,
Maeve; and Richard and Maeve’s
daughter Louise have continued the
family’s fossil-hunting in East Africa
into the 21st century.
RESEARCH LINKS For more on the
Leakey family, go to
classzone.com
