Making Lucy: A Paleoartist Reconstructs Long-Lost Human Ancestors
I have an interesting job. Some days it might involve paying a woman to climb up and down a pole naked while I take notes and photographs.
But that’s a terrible way to begin. Let me explain.
When I first learned of Lucy’s discovery, I wanted to build her. Lucy is the name given to a 3.2-million-year-old partial skeleton attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. It is a wonderful endeavor to seek answers to questions about how she lived, but seeing her as she may have appeared in life can make a connection for us that nothing else can foster.
More: Making Lucy: A Paleoartist Reconstructs Long-Lost Human Ancestors
I’m in an online class on human evolution right now. being taught by UW-Madison professor John Hawks. I found this article from a blog posting of his: johnhawks.net It’s a terribly fascinating look at what it takes to create as accurate a reconstruction as is possible to make today. To understand what we can be, we must understand our origins. That origin can be glimsed in a 3’ 7” tall female known as Lucy. In Ethiopia, Lucy is called “dinknesh,” which means the wondrous one
When you put two mirrors up facing each other, you get receding images. I always wished that the most distant could show something different; something of the past; reflected in those depths. This hominini, Lucy, is us as viewed through a distant mirror.