Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor

Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor

A famed paleontologist describes his latest find at Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge, a two million-year-old elbow bone, a discovery that raises questions about humankind's evolution Paleontologist Johanson, the discoverer of the famous "Lucy" skeleton--the subject of Johanson & Maitland Edey's Lucy: The Beginning of Mankind ( LJ 2/1/81)--has uncovered a new fossil in Africa's Olduvai Gorge. While just as tiny as the 3.2-million-year-old Lucy, this Homo habilis specimen lived within 200,000 years of the modern-looking Homo erectus. Johanson believes that a rapid spurt in hominid evolution occurred 1.6-1.8 million years ago, and, in this book, written with science writer Shreeve, he suggests ecological and cultural scenarios for this change. He also describes the grittiness of field research and the personality feuds in his field. Only his persecution complex over treatment by the Leakeys wears thin. While not as objective as Delta Wills's The Hominid Gang reviewed in this issue, below.-- Ed. , this also helps sort out the complexities of paleontology for general readers. Recommended. BOMC featured alternate. Previewed in Prepub Alert, 6/15/89-- Beth Clewis, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond, Va. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. Evolution, Man, Natural History