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Donald Johanson

Donald Johanson was born in Chicago in 1943, the


son of Swedish immigrants. His father died when
he was two, and his mother moved to Hartford,
Connecticut, where he developed an interest in
anthropology from a neighbour who taught the
subject. Although he initially studied chemistry at
university, he eventually switched majors to
anthropology, and worked during summers on
archeological digs. He transferred to Chicago to
study under F. Clark Howell for his graduate
studies, doing a comprehensive study on
chimpanzee dentition for his doctoral thesis. In
1970 and 1971 he visited Africa to do field work at
Omo in Ethiopia. In 1972, he and some colleagues
went on a short exploratory expedition evaluate the Afar Triangle region of Ethiopia.
They were impressed by its promise, and planned a full scale expedition the following
year. Back in the USA, Johanson completed his Ph.D. and started a teaching position
at Case Western Reserve University.

In 1973 he discovered AL 129-1, a small but humanlike knee, and the first knee
known from the hominid fossil record. The following year, Johanson and Tom Gray
discovered an even more spectacular find, AL 288-1, a partial skeleton of a female
australopithecine better known by its nickname of Lucy. In 1975 there was yet another
major find when his team found a collection of fossils at a single site which was
nicknamed the First Family. In 1976, more hominid fossils were discovered, along
with stone tools which, at 2.5 million years, were the oldest in the world. After 1976,
political conditions in Ethiopia prevented further expeditions for nearly 15 years.

Johanson, who in 1974 had become a curator at the Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, now tackled the task of analyzing the fossils with the aid of Tim White, a
young but highly regarded scientist who had just finished his Ph.D. Johanson had
originally been of the opinion that the Hadar fossils were a mixture
of Homo and Australopithecus specimens, but White eventually convinced him that
all of them belonged to just one species. In 1978 they named that
species Australopithecus afarensis.

In 1981, Johanson founded the Institute of Human Origins, a non-profit research


institution devoted to the study of prehistory. In 1987, the IHO was given permission
to conduct an expedition to Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and found a partial
skeleton, OH 62, which is generally attributed to Homo habilis. Since 1990, IHO has
recommenced excavations in Ethiopia and have found more A. afarensis fossils. The
most important so far is a fossil skull, AL 444-2. In 1997, the IHO moved from
Berkeley to Arizona and became affiliated with Arizona State University.

Skeleton of a frog: web-footed amphibian which lives near lakes and ponds.


Moves by swimming and jumping.
Maxillary: bony part of the jaw.
Orbital cavity: skull cavity that contains the eye.
Quadratojugal: cheek bone.
Prootic: bones forming the auditory region.
Phalange: each of the small bones forming the fingers.
Occipital lateral: occipital lateral bone.
Carpus: each of the bones forming the wrist.
Metacarpus: each of the bones forming the part of the hand between the fingers
and the wrist.
Urostyle: adaptation of one or several vertebrae, stretching the hindquarters.
Ilium: projecting hip bone.
Ischium: one of three bones forming the ilium.
Calcaneum: projecting heel bone.
Talus: bone jointed with the leg bones.
Phalanges: each of the bones forming the toes.
Metatarsus: each of the bones forming the part of the foot between the toes and
the heel.
Tarsus: each of the bones forming the heel.
Femur: thigh bone.
Tibiofibula: leg bone.
Sacral vertebra: vertebra of the sacrum.
Vertebra: each of the bones forming the spinal column.
Humerus: arm bone.
Radio-ulna: forearm bone.
Scapular: shoulder bone.
Pterygoid: one of the bones of the palate, forming the root of the mouth.
Skull: bony case of the brain.

Learning Task in
Science
By;
Emmie Rose S. Penano
8-seas
To;
Mr. Benjamin Bodiit
Teacher

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