The death of Lucy ( Australopithecus afarensis ), our most famous human ancestor, had been a mystery. Up to now. A team of researchers led by the University of Texas (USA) has concluded – after analyzing her fossils using a computed tomography technique – that Lucy died at age 20 from injuries suffered when falling from a tree into a large tree. height , since the fractures of their bones show a similar appearance to those of people who die precisely because of a fall.
According to the conclusions of the study, Lucy would have fallen from a height of more than 12 meters, hitting the ground at more than 35 miles per hour , probably landing feet first and preparing her arms for the imminent fall. His death was quick.
This extinct hominid lived 3.18 million years ago in what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia until its fatal fall occurred when it was barely 20 years old: “It is ironic that the fossil that stars in the debate on paper arboreal in human evolution possibly died from injuries sustained in a fall from a tree ”, explains John Kappelman, leader of the research.
The fossil remains of Lucy, which make up one of the oldest and most complete skeletons of a prehistoric adult bipedal human , were scanned using the High Resolution X-ray Tomographic Facility to create a digital archive of more than 35,000 computed tomography images.
“The technique is not destructive. You can see what’s inside, the internal details and the arrangement of the bones,” says Richard Ketcham, a co-author of the work at the same institution. “Lucy is valuable. There is only one Lucy and we want to study her as much as possible, “he adds.
Scientists therefore believe that Lucy was both terrestrial and arboreal and that due to her small size – she was just over a meter tall and weighed about 27 kg – she fed and sought shelter at night in trees.
The study has been published in the journal Nature.
