Sorry if this has been posted before and answered but I can not find the answer!
I have been reading on both sides of the Australopithecus debate and 2 problems keep arising.
Lucy’s pelvic structure. Creationists says it’s an ape, Evolutionists says it’s a “Proto Human”. Cool. Couldn’t this be answered by looking at another hip structure of Australopithecus? Do we have a good one, I cannot find it.
The Skull. I watched were an evolutionist said that the spine goes into the skull like a Human, not an ape. Do we have another Skull to verify or deny this claim? There is not enough skull structure to prove either way. From what I see, it could be a slinky for all I know.
P. troglodytes is the species name for chimps, in case you were wondering. As you can see, both the human and australopithecine pelvises are shorter and and turn outward. This allows the pelvis to rotate the legs around the body’s midline, an adaptation for bipedal walking.
If you assume that australopithecines were bilaterally symmetrical, you can piece together a more complete picture with fragments from either side. With this assumption, Lucy’s pelvis was nearly 100% complete:
The most complete skull I am aware of us “Lucy’s Child”, an A. afarensis specimen of a three year old.
Another interesting find is AL 333, or the “First Family”. This is a collection of 13 individuals that were all buried together which offers an interesting snap shot of A. afarensis.
