Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) in a Box (IAC CERTIFIED MEMBERS ONLY)

Description

AVAILABLE TO IAC CERTIFIED MEMBERS ONLY

Shipping: 15 pounds ($1,600 insurance value).

Audience: 5^th grade – adults

Included: Human skull, Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) skull replica, bonobo skull, simulated spine, human sacrum, Lucy book and DVD, and complete set of Lucy’s fossil remains.

Instructions: The human skull is useful for contrasting with Lucy’s in the following ways: overall size, shape, 3X larger brain case, flat (versus sloped) face, and the angle at which the spine enters the base of the skull (the foramen magnum), which is straight/vertically in humans (compared to Lucy’s kind and other apes, such as chimps). Lucy’s skull replica is useful for showing what they actually found (the brown pieces) versus the “imagined” sections (everything in white), the 3X smaller brain case (compared to humans), the sloped (versus flat) face, and the angle at which the spine enters the base of the skull (the foramen magnum) (angled compared to straight with humans). This angle shows she walked on all fours, as does the sloped face because if she’s standing upright and looked down, she’s looking at her nose! The bonobo skull is useful for showing the similarity between Lucy and this species. The human sacrum can be contrasted with Lucy’s tiny one.  The complete set of Lucy’s fossil remains is useful for contrasting the actual fossil record of Lucy’s kind (which is fewer than 400 bone pieces and fragments, 35% of which are just teeth—see here: https://courses.edx.org/c4x/WellesleyX/ANTH_207x/asset/Kimbel09_Lucy_.pdf)  versus the exaggerated claims made here (at 35 seconds): https://youtu.be/V3U5KkOYRkA)

Training Videos