- In 1972, the French Yves Coppens (paleontologist) and Maurice Taïeb (geologist), as well as the American Donald Johanson (paleoanthropologist) created the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE). This expedition allows French and American researchers to work together and share their knowledge.
- IARE focuses its research on the Afar region, northeast of Ethiopia in Africa.
- For two years, researchers found many scattered bones without ever being able to reconstruct a hominid (descendant of man).
November 1974
Characters
Yves Coppens
Maurice Taieb
Donald Johanson
Procedure
- November 1974, Yves Coppens, Donald Johanson and Maurice Taïeb explore a new site on the banks of the Awash River. There they discovered an Australopithecus.
- This Australopithecus is named Lucy.
- 40% of his skeleton has been found, i.e. 52 bones, making him one of the most complete hominids ever discovered.
Consequences
- Scientific research has determined:
- that in 1974, Lucy is the oldest hominid fossil. According to specialists, she would have lived about 3.2 million years ago;
- that she was about 1.10 meters tall and weighed 25 kilos;
- that she could walk on her own two legs, but was very adept in the trees.
- In 2001, researchers led by Frenchman Michel Brunet discovered the Toumaï fossil, which is around 7 million years old. Lucy then loses her place as the oldest ancestor of the human species.