Lucy the Oldest Human Ancestor Research Paper According to Dr. Donald Johanson, Lucy was one of the greatest paleoanthropological finds of the 20th century.
According to Johanson, Lucy represented the missing link between apes and humans. She was our oldest human ancestor, the ape who walked upright.
Lucy the Oldest Human Ancestor Research Paper
But is Dr. Johanson correct in his assumptions? It will be your task to make that determination. For this assignment, please use separate sections, clearly labeled, to argue your case.
They should contain the following information: An introduction with a clearly stated thesis statement
Next, you should discuss Dr. Johanson’s discovery of an ancient looking knee joint.1n 1973, one year before he found Lucy and discuss the evidence he used to indicate that its owner walked upright.
Lucy the Oldest Human Ancestor Research Paper
Following this, you should speak about Dr. Johanson’s discovery of Lucy’s remains a year later, you should discuss Dr. Johanson’s analysis of Lucy’s original environment and what evidence he used to accomplish this.
Since Dr. Johanson bases his case for Lucy’s inclusion into the human family primarily on her bipedal ability, in a separate section, you should discuss the evidence he uses to support
The evidence should include Lucy’s knee joint making sure you connect this evidence with the evidence of the first knee joint Johanson found. Following this, you should discuss the evidence of Lucy’s pelvis and the footprints found by Mary Leakey at Laetoli in East Africa.
Finally, you should address the question of why Lucy walked upright. Dr. Johanson has two suggestions, the changing environment, and Lucy’s social structure.
These factors of changing the environment and social structure should be discussed thoroughly. Most of the information comes from the video and represents Dr. Johanson’s analysis.
The different pieces of evidence should be discussed separately, not in the same paragraph, making sure that each paragraph is connected by proper transitional links. In fact, the entire paper should be a logically connected story using proper transitions throughout the entire paper.
Lucy the Oldest Human Ancestor Research Paper
You should have a separate section where you either agree or disagree with Dr. Johanson’s conclusion including the justifications for your choice.
Here you should look for biased conclusions, raising questions about methodology, critique anything dealing with Dr. Johanson’s interpretations of the evidence and his conclusions.
One important factor to note: What might Dr. Johanson have found that would lend more credence to the classification of Lucy as the oldest most complete bipedal human ancestor?
Finally, you should have a coherent conclusion. Here you might discuss why discoveries such as Dr. Johanson’s are important to the scientific community or you might discuss the importance of such an exercise like this for you personally.
These are just some suggestions. There are many other approaches you might take when developing your conclusion.
Sources required:
- (Book) Lucy, the beginning of humankind. By Donald Johanson and Maitland A Edey
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