PEOPLE WHO HAVE DISCOVERED EARLY HUMANS
Donald
Johanson
Donald Johanson is an American paleoanthropologist. Along with Maurice Taieb, and Yves Coppens he is known for the discovery of the skeleton of
the female hominid australopithecine known as "Lucy", in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia. In 1981,
he established the Institute of Human
Origins in Berkeley, California. Lucy herself was not at once recognized as a unlike
species, but was considered an older member of Australopithecus africanus, and only the later discovery of skulls of afarensis convinced the general paleontological world that
Lucy represents a species called afarensis.
Louis and
Mary Leakey
Mary Leakey (6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British
archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island and also a noted robust Australopithecine called Zinjanthropus at Olduvai. Louis Leakey was a British archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in
establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role
in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting
wildlife there.
Raymond Dart
Raymond Dart grew up on a family farm in
Queensland, Australia. In 1924, he examined fossil-bearing rocks blasted
from a limestone quarry at Taung, a small town in the North West Province of
South Africa. He found a skullcap, that he believed was obviously that of
a primate. It fit precisely over a brain-cast
protruding from the surface of one of the rocks. After more than a month of
patient chipping, he managed to reveal the skull's face. It was the first
specimen of an australopithecine ever
found.
Eugene
Dubois
Eugene Dubois was the first person to ever deliberately search for fossils of human ancestors. Only a handful of fossil humans had already been discovered, and those were by chance. In a remarkable story of dedication and luck, Dubois succeeded in his quest. In September 1890, he and his workers found a human, or human-like, fossil at Koreroing Broeboes. They found the right side of the chin of a lower jaw and three attached teeth. In August 1891 he found a primate molar tooth. Two months later he found an intact skullcap, which would be known as Java Man. In August 1892, a third primate fossil, an almost complete left thigh bone, was found near the skullcap. In 1894 Dubois published a description of his fossils, naming them Pithecanthropus erectus, describing it as neither ape nor human, but something in the middle. In 1895, he returned to Europe to promote the fossil and his interpretation. A few scientists enthusiastically endorsed Dubois' work, but most disagreed.
Eugene Dubois was the first person to ever deliberately search for fossils of human ancestors. Only a handful of fossil humans had already been discovered, and those were by chance. In a remarkable story of dedication and luck, Dubois succeeded in his quest. In September 1890, he and his workers found a human, or human-like, fossil at Koreroing Broeboes. They found the right side of the chin of a lower jaw and three attached teeth. In August 1891 he found a primate molar tooth. Two months later he found an intact skullcap, which would be known as Java Man. In August 1892, a third primate fossil, an almost complete left thigh bone, was found near the skullcap. In 1894 Dubois published a description of his fossils, naming them Pithecanthropus erectus, describing it as neither ape nor human, but something in the middle. In 1895, he returned to Europe to promote the fossil and his interpretation. A few scientists enthusiastically endorsed Dubois' work, but most disagreed.
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