Discover: Hadar, Ethiopia
The science of paleoanthropology begins with discoveries in the field. And it is exciting to find a real fossil! The famous fossil "Lucy" was discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson in the dusty hills of Hadar, Ethiopia. Scientists continue to return to the same area to look for more fossils of our ancient ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis, along with the fossil skeletons of animals that lived around the same time—3.2 million years ago. Follow along as a group of scientists and students trek out to the field in search of fossils!
Image credits Benjamin Reed
It takes a trained eye to spot this fossil tooth in the dirt.
The team can begin to dig where a fossil tooth has been found to see what else might turn up. Yellow flags indicate where fossils are seen coming out of the hillside.
The site is divided into meter squares so that fossils can be recorded as to where they are found and in what geological layer for dating the fossil.
Careful excavation techniques are used to make sure fossils are not missed. After digging out the shelf, the dirt is put in to a bucket.
The dirt is sifted through a large sieve to look for the smallest fossil teeth or bones.
If the team is lucky, they will find more than a small tooth. Here is a jaw bone from some creature, but from what kind of animal? More work will need to be done to determine if it is from a modern animal, an ancient animal, or a fossil from one of Lucy's species Australopithecus afarensis.
Back at camp, all the bones found in the field are cleaned . . .
. . . and compared to modern animal bones or casts of fossils to determine exactly what this fossil is.
The day's finds are catalogued into a computer. On the table are some casts of fossil skulls brought along to use for comparison and artifacts found in the field.
After a long dusty day, students cool off in the Awash River. There are crocodiles around, so they have to keep a sharp eye out!
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