AL 129-1

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The knee joint AL 129-1

AL 129-1 is the scientific name for two fossils of an Australopithecus afarensis belonging to the same individual , which were discovered by Donald Johanson in the Afar region of Ethiopia in autumn 1973 (AL = Afar Locality ). The fragment of a tibia with a preserved upper joint turned out to be a perfect fit with the fragment of a femur with preserved two lower joint cusps. These surface finds, around 3.4 million years old and recovered in the Hadar area, together formed the oldest known knee jointa representative of the hominini and were at the same time convincing evidence that its owner could walk upright .

Johanson first discovered the shin fragment (AL 129-1b) that he saw protruding from the sandy soil while searching the area selected by the International Afar Research Expedition . A few meters away he found the thigh fragment (AL 129-1a), the second lower articular cusp of which had broken off and lay in the sand next to the larger fragment. The size and color of the finds were the same, and all three bones matched exactly. Johanson initially thought the rather delicate bones were those of a small monkey , but, according to his description in his book, represented Lucy. The beginnings of mankind already at the point of discovery that this joint - unlike a monkey - did not form a straight line, but a slightly inclined angle to the outside. By comparing it with the thigh bone of a human being , it was confirmed in the research camp that the fossil and human bones - apart from their size - were almost identical in construction.

The surface find could initially only be ascribed to an age of around 3 million years on the basis of biostratigraphic features, but its horizon could be reconstructed as lying under a basalt layer , which could be absolutely dated with the help of potassium-argon dating . The assignment to a certain species was initially omitted ( Australopithecus afarensis was only named in 1978), and even the assignment of the fossils to the genus Australopithecus remained controversial for a while.

The place where the fossils are kept is the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa .

literature

  • Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens, Carl Johanson and Raymonde Bonnefille: Hominidés de l'Afar central, Ethiopie (Site d'Hadar, campagne 1973). In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. XIII ° Série, Volume 2, No. 2, 1975, pp. 117-124, full text .
  • Donald Johanson and Blake Edgar: Lucy and Her Children. 2nd edition, Spektrum Verlag, Munich 2006, p. 140, ISBN 978-3-8274-1670-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Donald C. Johanson , C. Owen Lovejoy , Albert H. Burstein and Kingsbury G. Heiple: Functional implications of the Afar knee joint. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 44, No. 1, 1976, p. 188 (= American Association of Physical Anthropologists / Abstract of a paper to be presented at the forty-fifth annual meeting)
  2. ^ D. Carl Johanson and Yves Coppens : A preliminary anatomical diagnosis of the first Plio / Pleistocene hominid discoveries in the central Afar, Ethiopia. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 45, No. 2, 1976, pp. 217-233, doi: 0.1002 / ajpa.1330450209
  3. ^ Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey: Lucy. The beginnings of mankind. 4th edition. Piper, Munich 1994, pp. 189-200, ISBN 3-492-11555-1 .
  4. ^ Donald Johanson and Maurice Taieb: Plio-Pleistocene hominid discoveries in Hadar, Ethiopia. In: Nature . Volume 260, 1976, pp. 293-297, doi: 10.1038 / 260293a0
  5. ↑ keyword AL 129-1 in Bernard Wood : Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4051-5510-6 .