Zeresenay Alemsged talks on the origins of humanity through his Dikika Research Project (DRP) in the Afar...
Natasha Dantzig from the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Conference informed me a talk by Zeresenay Alemsged.
BIO
Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for
the earliest signs of humanity. Among his most exciting finds: the
3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from
the species Australopithecus afarensis.
Why you should listen to him:
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged studies the origins of
humanity. Through his Dikika Research Project (DRP) in the Afar
desert of Ethiopia, he has discovered the earliest known skeleton of
a hominid child, the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-
old girl of the species Australopithecus afarensis. She is a member
of the same species as Lucy, discovered nearby in 1974.
In studying Selam's tiny bones, Alemseged is searching for the points
at which we humans diverged from apes. For instance, Selam may have
had ape-like shoulders, made for climbing trees -- but her legs were
angled for walking upright. Her young brain, at age 3, was still
growing, which implies that she was set to have a long human-style
childhood. And in the hyoid bone of her throat, Alemseged sees the
beginning of human speech.
Born in Axum, Ethiopia, Alemseged is based at the Max Planck
Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
TALK SUMMARY
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged is looking for the roots of
humanity in Ethiopia's badlands. Here he talks about what he has
found -- including the oldest skeleton yet discovered of a humanoid
child -- and how Africa holds the clues to what makes us human.
LINKS will be:
BIO
http://www.ted.com/speakers/view/id/141
TALK
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/168
