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
How will humans look 1,000 years from now? w/ Donald Johanson

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.

Primates overlaid with the title of the video
Could other species evolve into humans? w/ Donald Johanson

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 makes us human? w/ Donald Johanson

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
What did we learn from "Lucy"? w/ Donald Johanson

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.

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How did you know where to find "Lucy"? w/ Donald Johanson

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.
Skeleton Secrets

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
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
Chimpanzee Mother and Babies

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
In the Field: Exploring Pondoland, South Africa
The research team at Mossel Bay, South Africa is expanding its field locations to include new field sites in Kynsna and Pondoland. Pondoland, along the eastern coast of South Africa, has not been previously explored for evidence of early modern human habitation. Join team leader Erich Fisher as they head out along the coast to search for our origins!
Ledi-Geraru Homo jaw
Discovery: The Fossil Jaw of Homo

In 2013, a research team was working in the dusty hills of Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. The geologists identified a layer of sediment, or dirt, as belonging to the time period they were trying to study. The scientists hoped to find fossils from this time period.

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When did human ancestors use stone tools?
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