Week 12: The Discovery of Lucy

November 22, 2010:  Diversity is any kind of variety that makes our world a better place.

How long did it take for you to learn how to walk?  Perhaps one or two years?  From an evolutionary standpoint, it took humans millions of years before they were able to stand upright and walk on twos, instead of fours.

In this week, in 1974, archaeologists made an amazing discovery—several hundred pieces of bone from a human ancestor who lived more than 3 million years ago!  They gave her the name, “Lucy.”  The discovery of Lucy was significant because scientists could tell from her skeleton that she was able to walk upright.

Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia, one of the countries located in an area known as the Horn of Africa.  The Horn of Africa has produced amazing discoveries about our origins, including the evidence of the first stone tools from 2.6 million years ago, and the first modern humans from 130,000 years ago.  

Remember, you don’t have to travel as far as Horn of Africa to find diversity.  There are hundreds of opportunities to celebrate diversity right here at your own school.  Find one today!