Listen & Watch

You have been reading about the anthropologists behind the Ask An Anthropologist website. Now you can hear and watch them too!

Image of Don Johanson and title of video

Donald Johanson -- credited with discovering the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as "Lucy"-- talks about human evolutionary timelines and what the future might hold for humans.

The earth from space, overlaid by the title of the video

Donald Johanson -- credited with discovering "Lucy"-- talks about our responsibility to the species with whom we share this world, and to this planet.

Primates overlaid with the title of the video

Donald Johanson -- credited with discovering the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as "Lucy"-- talks about why humans are the way we are, and about whether any other animals might "become human" in the future.

Don Johanson gesturing, overlaid with the title of the video

What sets us apart from other primates? Donald Johanson--credited with discovering the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as "Lucy"-- talks about what makes us uniquely human.

Lucy fossil overlaid with title of video

Donald Johanson--credited with discovering the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as "Lucy" in 1974-- talks about what we can learn about humans from looking at Australopithecus afarensis and why her discovery was so important.

Video thumbnail

Donald Johanson, credited with discovering the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as "Lucy" in 1974, talks about how he knew where to start looking.

Look for more videos in this series, as we ask prominent anthropologists to answer some of your most compelling questions.

Image by 	Sklmsta.

Dead men tell no tales, but their bones can. It just takes a particular kind of scientist to read the clues that tell the story. Dr. Biology sits down with guest Tony Falsetti, a forensic anthropologist who knows his way around a skeleton.

A Human Climate

Scientists are drilling deep into the five ancient African lake beds to search for clues about the environment over the last five million years. The aim of the project is to look for climate change in areas where our early human ancestors lived. 

baby chimpanzee

IHO Founding Director Donald Johanson visited the Jane Goodall Institute in Gombe, Tanzania, and was lucky to come upon this little band of mother chimpanzees with their babies. Johanson is the paleoanthropologist who discovered the famous "Lucy" fossil in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1974.

Pondoland dig site

Pondoland, along the eastern coast of South Africa, has not been previously explored for evidence of early modern human habitation. Join the team along the coast to search for our origins!

Pages

What plants and animals lived with our ancient ancestors?
Answer »

Be part of Ask An Anthropologist

By volunteering, or simply sending us feedback on the site. Scientists, teachers, writers, illustrators, and translators are all important to the program. If you are interested in helping with the website we have a volunteers page to get the process started.

Donate icon  Contribute