How did Donald Johanson’s discovery change the paradigm about early hominins? Why is it so important to find a more complete skull of Australopithecus afarensis?
Watch the following video on the discovery of Australopithecus afarensis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_9_5gxvxg
(The video is about an hour. The sound will get funky for a couple of minutes, but hang in there — it clears up.) As you watch, take notes and answer the following questions: In the 1970s, what did paleoanthropologists hypothesize the earliest hominins would look like? How did Donald Johanson’s discovery change the paradigm about early hominins? Why is it so important to find a more complete skull of Australopithecus afarensis?