Was the turkana boy a hoax?

1. What was wrong with Turkana Boy?
2. What was wrong with Turkana Boy when he died?
3. What is the evidence that suggests Turkana Boy did not have body hair?
4. What was the actual age of Turkana Boy?
5. What does Turkana Boy represent in terms of human evolutionary history?
6. Why is 1974 fossil called Lucy?
7. What was so important about the discovery of the Lake Turkana Nariokotome skeleton?
8. Is Turkana Boy older than Lucy?
9. Who was the first human on earth?
10. When was Lucy found?
11. What causes bones to turn into fossils quickly in Lake Turkana?
12. What does the age and size of Turkana Boy suggest about erectus?
13. How did Turkana Boy date?
14. Where is the Turkana Boy skeleton?
15. Why are the Dmanisi fossils important?

What was wrong with Turkana Boy?

Disease. Early studies indicated that Turkana Boy suffered from a congenital disorder, either dwarfism or scoliosis. This was because the rib bones appeared asymmetrical to the spine, at the time attributed to skeletal dysplasia. ... The specimen also had a diseased mandible.

What was wrong with Turkana Boy when he died?

Turkana human - Gum disease

The Turkana Boy (Homo ergaster) lived in Africa about 1.5 million years ago. ... Instead, his jaw shows that he had a diseased gum where a deciduous molar – one of his baby teeth – had been shed. An infection seems to have set in and he probably died of septicaemia (blood poisoning).

What is the evidence that suggests Turkana Boy did not have body hair?

The evidence for Turkana Boy's hairlessness comes in part from the study of louse DNA. Hair is "rarely present in the fossil record" so researchers have turned to the study of parasites associated with hair, i.e. head and pubic lice. It turns out that the human head louse is very different from the human pubic louse.

What was the actual age of Turkana Boy?

…an 11–13-year-old male called “Turkana Boy.” A 1.44-million-year-old jawbone ascribed to H. habilis and a 1.55-million-year-old skull belonging to H. erectus have been found east of Lake Turkana.

What does Turkana Boy represent in terms of human evolutionary history?

The 'Turkana Boy' skeleton has allowed scientists to find out a lot of information about body size, body shape, and growth rates of Homo erectus. This skeleton is 40% complete, based on the principle that bones from one side of the body can tell what the same bone from the other side looked like even if it's missing.

Why is 1974 fossil called Lucy?

"Lucy" acquired her name from the 1967 song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles, which was played loudly and repeatedly in the expedition camp all evening after the excavation team's first day of work on the recovery site.

What was so important about the discovery of the Lake Turkana Nariokotome skeleton?

They found fossils of what turned out to be an Australopithecus anamensis. The discovery indicates that the date of the occurrence of bipedalism needed to be moved back by half a million years, to about 4.2 million years ago.

Is Turkana Boy older than Lucy?

The public press on Turkana Boy has been minuscule compared to that of Lucy, likely because this find was claimed to be 1.4 million years old by some experts and as old as 1.9 million Darwin years by others.

Who was the first human on earth?

The First Humans

One of the earliest known humans is Homo habilis, or “handy man,” who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.

When was Lucy found?

On November 24, 1974, fossils of one of the oldest known human ancestors, an Australopithecus afarensis specimen nicknamed “Lucy,” were discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia.

What causes bones to turn into fossils quickly in Lake Turkana?

That's because Lake Turkana lies in a volcanic area, where tectonic activity can move Earth's crust and create new layers. It is within these layers that fossils from different time periods are found.

What does the age and size of Turkana Boy suggest about erectus?

A study from 1993 estimated that, had Turkana Boy lived, he would have grown to a height of 6 feet, 1 inch and weight of around 150 pounds. If the boy really was destined for such tallness, then H. erectus would have experienced an adolescent growth spurt on a par with modern humans.

How did Turkana Boy date?

Both conventional potassium- argon and argon-argon dating were used to determine that the Turkana Boy was sandwiched between volcanic ashes respectively dated to about 1.88 million and about 1.39 million years ago.

Where is the Turkana Boy skeleton?

"Turkana Boy," above, is the most complete early human skeleton ever found. It was discovered on the western shore of the lake, while the Koobi Fora rock formation is on the east.

Why are the Dmanisi fossils important?

Among the Dmanisi fossils is the skull and jaw of a toothless old adult. ... Overall, Dmanisi is a remarkable site, preserving not only one of the most important Paleolithic occupations of Eurasia, but also a rich archaeological record of Georgia's Medieval period.