Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1981 - 76

ronment. Since the rhinoceros needs
water and monkeys live in trees, the
ecology of the region can be reconstructed from these clues. The process of
interpreting the fossil material is intriguing. We find Johanson examining record casts of the real fossils which will
be used in future studies. (The original
fossils have since been returned to
Ethiopia.) Each cast is examined for defects and measured for accuracy, serving as a permanent record for each fossil. The detective work used in interpreting the anatomical features and
their function is extremely well portrayed. The reconstruction of an adult
skull by Timothy White of the University of California, Berkeley illustrates
the knowledge and skills required for
this precise work. White uses his vast
knowledge of variations in human and
ape populations, the actual fossil remains, and techniques such as mirror
images to reconstruct a missing portion
of a specimen. With the skill of a sculptor, White fashions the finished product.
Johanson and White spend considerable time comparing the Afar material
with the fragmentary find from Laetoli,
a site far to the south in Tanzania. They
decided that the Afar and Laetoli specimens cannot be distinguished and must
therefore belong to the same population.
After much toil and turmoil, Johanson
and White conclude that the populations belong to a new and more primitive species of australopithecines Australopithecus afarensis.
Viewers are also treated to an exposition of how function can be interpreted
from the size and shape of the bone.
Johanson demonstrates the method
used to determine that afarensis walked
upright. Since a bipedal stride requires
certain anatomical changes, one can
look at the carrying angle of the thigh
bone (the angle it makes to the pelvis)
and the shape of the knee joint itself to

Archaeology

reveal the posture and locomotion of
afarensis. The details of afarensis locomotion are eloquently presented by anthropologist Owen Lovejoy of Kent
State University. Lovejoy, using radiographic cinematography of knee joint
movement in modern humans and precise comparison of the morphology of
the bones and joints, makes a startling
discovery: the mode of locomotion in
afarensis is the same as that in modern
Homo sapiens. This interpretation is
reinforced by the discovery at Laetoli of
three million-year-old footprints: clear
indications of a population well adapted
to bipedalism.
While I have utmost praise for film
producer Vivian Ducat's Lucy and the
First Family , three aspects of the presentation are troublesome. The first is a
sort of "hype" reflected in the use of
"Johanson's Knee" to refer to the remains of the first hominid uncovered by
the expedition. Johanson's place in science is well-established and paying
homage in this way is unnecessary, and
tends to deemphasize the team approach espoused earlier in the film.
Second, the film often entices the
viewer with juicy morsels, without providing the main course. We are told that
diet affects the surface of teeth and that
the Afar enamel shows a peculiar ribbon-like wear. The methods for assessing this wear (scanning electron micrographs) are not revealed, nor is the
fact that the Afar dentition shows evidence of micro-flaking (caused from
vice-like gripping of teeth on hard substances such as bone), pitting (from
chewing on hard seeds or grit), and
scratches (from the abrasive action of
debris and silica in vegetation pulled
through the teeth, all suggestive of an
omniverous diet.
The third criticism is more serious
and involves the reaction of Johanson
and White to Richard Leakey's rejection

of a new taxon (Australopithecus afarensis) for the Hadar and Laetoli material and their evolutionary significance.
Rather than have Leakey present his
reasons for rejecting the JohansonWhite model, shots of headlines from
newspapers reporting Leakey's objections to their interpretation are used.
While Leakey's unwillingness to cooperate in this project can be surmised, it
does leave a gap in the film. We are told
that Johanson and White consider Australopithecus afarensis to be ancestral to
later australopithecines and the genus
homo, while Leakey is not willing to
place Lucy in this category. To most
viewers, this may seem a minor point
but to the scientists it represents a commitment to a theoretical position on
which reputations are made.
The Odyssey visit with Lucy and her
friends should be an exciting and adventurous evening for all. Sharing the
joy of discovery of the fossils, understanding the methods of interpreting
behavior from these fossilized remains,
and a chance to meet one's earliest ancestor should make the film a memorable event. For those who would like to
extend the visit, I suggest that they read
Lucy , the Beginnings of Humankind (Simon and Schuster, New York 1981) by
Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey,
which provides a more detailed profile
of the discoveries and the controversy
which they generated.
GEORGE ARMELAGOS, co-authorwith
Peter Farb of ConsumingPassions:The Anthropology of Eating (Houghton-Mifflin,
Boston 1980)is ProfessorofAnthropologyat
the UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst.
Bath Waters, adapted by Antonia
Benedek from a BBC documentary and
narrated by the incomparable Susan
Starnberg of National Public Radio, is
scheduled to be shown on October 27. It
is not quite the refreshing plunge it
might have been. The film is the story of
a two-week salvage dig conducted by
Barry Cunliffe of Oxford University in
December 1979 in the Roman reservoir
under the King's Bath in the thermal
spa of Bath in southern England. Excavation became possible when the water from the famous hot springs was
found to be contaminated, and to have
caused the death of an 11-year-old girl
from amoebic meningitis. Draining the
baths to investigate the source of the
pollution, the engineers found its substructures in need of repair and this
gave Cunliffe and company a chance to
dig underneath the modern floors.
The strength of the film is its vivid
presentation of the daily routine of an
almost inconceivably difficult project.
Amoebic meningitis is invariably fatal.
To protect themselves from it, the excavators had to work in coveralls,
breathing masks and boots. Every day
at the end of work they had to scrub the
boots with disinfectant, leave the cover-

Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1981

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1981