Life And Death 3,000,000 Years Ago

Life and death of some of our earliest ancestors, australopiths like Lucy.

Sources:

Huge thanks to my patreons!

Disclaimer: Use my videos as a rough guide to a topic. I am not an expert, I may get things wrong. This is why I always post my sources so you can critique my work and verify things for yourselves. Of course I aim to be as accurate as possible which is why you will only find reputable sources in my videos. Secondly, information is always subject to changes as new information is uncovered by archaeologists.

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[StefanMilo]

Yo yo yo, thanks for watching! Check out www.ugbert.com for some absolutely banging prehistoric themed mugs and an incredible Lucy poster! It seriously helps the channel and Ettore, the artist behind these brilliant images.

[Userrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.r]

I went to see Lucy's fossil in Ethiopia and if there is one thing that struck me at first sight, it was how small she was. As said in the video, she was about 1m tall. That's the size of a 6 year old. Imagine trying to survive in the savanna when you're that small

[dannyb]

Made my hair stand on end when he pointed out that Lucy would've been obsessed over in death, and that 3 million years later, she is still being mourned. Lucy teaches us what made us human. And the fact that we can find, identify, and understand the significance of 3 million year old remains, is the result of the humanity she gave us.

[meg]

Can you imagine being carried off by a predatory bird? Utterly terrifying to really consider that our ancestors were very much a typical prey animal.

[mrbeast]

In some cultures the act of remembering or speaking the name of the dead is believed to be what keeps them alive in the afterlife. Its quite touching to think that c3 million years after she died, Lucy is still being 'remembered' in a manner of speaking and hence in some senses we've brought this unassuming human ancestor back to life.

[julianstanley]

My son pointed out that the unusually intact condition of Lucy's remains may indicate the lingering protection of her family until the cadaver was too far gone to be of interest to scavengers. Great posts, look forward to more.

[oppaloopa]

Did y’all have a relative that died before you were born that the rest of your family talked about often? You hear all these great stories, you see all these beautiful pictures, though you never spoke a word to them you feel you know them. You love them. You miss them. You miss someone who you never met.

I feel the same way I do towards my beloved grandaddy that I do towards past humans. I look at these faces and feel the string that connects us all tug.

Who were you? What did your voice sound like? What were your dreams like? Was I in them? I wish I could thank you for working so hard. For loving this world enough to evolve. I look at your bleached skull and despite the genetics and the millennias I see every human I’ve ever loved and hated and been indifferent to in your face. I love you.

Its 11:14 pm on a Saturday and I am yet again emotional about hominids.

[sprawlz]

Fun fact: Lucy was named after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” that had just come out because the scientists who discovered her liked the song.

[edensaylor]

finding a cool rock to take home has been in our blood for millions of years

[andromeda]

There was also a significant point in Lucy's life where she met Scarlet Johansson

[beckyevans]

It made me really sad to hear that Lucy died by an accident or at the hands of a predator. I’m sad that she didn’t get to become an old Australopithecus lady. Imagine if you could travel back in time to see how life really was then, to interact with our ancestors from millions of years ago.

[HELLJUMPER]

You know, I had almost no interest in the subjects you talked about on your channel before finding you nearly two years ago. But your humor and thorough research were intriguing and helped to show how fascinating our deep past can be! So thank you Stephan! For being a true gentleman!

[Hemlat]

Thanks for the video Stefan! I was a student of Dr. Thomas Gray (at Southwest Texas State) who was Lucy's co-discoverer along with Don Johanson. Dr. Gray also had a cast of Lucy's skeleton which we all learned to put together. So many discoveries have colored the image we have of their lives since the 80's when I was a student. Yet Lucy was foundational in many ways.

[bribread]

I wish time machines existed, imagine how eye-opening and fascinating it would be to watch all of this go down in person. To watch history in action.

[saria]

"We can only imagine the pain that they would have felt watching over her body. Little would they know, we would still be watching over Lucy more than three million years later."
Oh man, that hit me! Who left these onions lying around??

I've been watching your channel for a long time (it helped me in my decision to go back to school and finish my anthropology degree!), and I'm really impressed in how your production value has developed! You've clearly put a lot of work behind your content :)

[brianedwards]

Stefan, you're evolving as a content creator. Thorough research, increasing video production, and an obvious curiosity in the subject. Thank you for bringing us such excellent content!

[stephenw.]

Excellent script you wrote for this one. Really thoughtful and sensitive while super informative. Kudos to you for your efforts.

[timeless]

This has made me feel in a way I hadn’t felt since I watched documentaries when I was like 7 years old. I just can’t describe the fascination seeing these reconstructions of our ancestors makes me feel. We are just a speck in the very long life of our planet and universe, and I hope we can preserve it for many more generations to come, so that we can all enjoy life here and learn from those who lived before us. Thanks, Stefan. You made my week.

[AlmostEthical]

A difference between humans and other apes is our relationship with rocks. Most apes don't care for them, while we have have long been fascinated with them and worked with them, creating ever more complex things from stone and metal. These days our favourite rocks are mobile phones and computers, made from a range of metals and compounds.

[NORTH]

I love the original footage in this video, excellent quality!