About 3 million years ago, the earth was a different place. On your travels you might see dogs with huge teeth, saber-toothed tigers, giant sharks, about 42 feet long and even ape-human like creatures that scientists believe modern day humans evolved from. This creature's name is Australopithecus (Ost-ral-o-pith-e-cus).
This possible early human, or hominid, was different from other apes. This human-like hominid could stand upright. Apes could not. Their hands were different, too. Ape hands were made for climbing and clinging. Early man's hands were jointed differently, which allowed them to not only use tools, but to make tools. No one knows if these very early human-like people actually made tools, but remains of polished bones have been found in South Africa, which suggests they might have made simple digging tools from bone! Their diet was mostly vegetarian, along with some meat, probably obtained by scavenging.
You might wonder how we know anything about hominids who lived over 3 million years ago! How do we know they even existed? Lucy told us!
3,000,000+ year old Lucy!!
In 1974, a skeleton was found in Africa. The bones were those of young female, approximately 20 years old when she died. Scientists named this "young lady" Lucy.
About 3 million years ago, when Lucy was alive, she was rather short, about 4 feet tall, and probably weighed about 50 pounds. Her brain was about the size of an orange. Her bones showed she probably walked erect or upright, although she still had the ability to climb trees easily. There were no signs of broken bones or teeth marks that might show why she died. Scientists suspect that she probably fell into a lake or river and drowned.
Scientists are like detectives. They can tell a great deal from a skeleton, whether it's a year old, or 3 million years old!
thats cool how many skeletons have been found?
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