{"id":958,"date":"2016-01-15T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keithcchan.com\/?p=958"},"modified":"2017-05-13T13:14:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T18:14:01","slug":"pretend-excavating-australopithecus-afarensis-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/2016\/01\/pretend-excavating-australopithecus-afarensis-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

As December rolled around, I found myself on Amazon browsing for good gifts. I settled on a large Tyrannosaurus rex<\/em> skeleton<\/a> for my brother (which looks amazing) and was ready to shut the browser window, when Amazon dangled another model in front of my eyes: an Australopithecus afarensis<\/em> (e.g. Lucy) model<\/a>! I had already gotten myself something so I begrudgingly surfed away without buying it. As luck and a great significant other would have it, I got one for Christmas even though I told no one about it! It has been a long time since I was on an archaeological dig, so I wanted to do this block of plastic bones justice. First, the unboxing:<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0113\"<\/p>\n

The model is branded “Cave Girl” since it is ostensibly a female afarensis, not because the toy was made for girls. In fact, as Megan McCullen pointed out<\/a>, the metadata for this model states that it was intended for boys. Another bit of marketing sexism: there is a “Cave Man” model, of a Neanderthal. “Girl” versus “Man,” :\/.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0115\"

{ Brochure of the different models. The sea, flying, and ice age sets<\/a> are especially neat. }<\/p><\/div>\n

In any case, the cover is a flap that opens to reveal the actual block of stuff that encloses the model pieces, as well as three plastic tools.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0114\"<\/p>\n

The tools are sturdy, much hardier than what comes with a Halloween pumpkin carving kit. There is a hammer\/scraper, chisel, and brush. The brief instructions state that the hammer and chisel are the way to go, but I found the scraper to be much more accurate and effective at removing the gypsum matrix. As a good archaeologist would do, I started at the surface and slowly dug away as evenly as possible.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0116\"

{ The newspaper was very worth it. Dust got everywhere, including my hands and phone. }<\/p><\/div>\n

A few pieces appear! The light brown piece was puzzling until I realized that it was the display stand, upside-down. An excellent find, since the stand should have lots to say about the bipedalism of this species.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0117\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A hand emerges, and to the right of it, another plastic bone and a hair! Maybe we can DNA test the hair and do an isotope study of the keratin for any dietary clues.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0127\"<\/p>\n

The display stand has text imprinted on it.\u00c2\u00a0Early language?!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0131\"<\/p>\n

Taking the stand away reveals\u00c2\u00a0an impression of an impression of the feet. They may be worth preserving so I started excavating around them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0150\"<\/p>\n

As I wrap up after around three hours (I went slow over two days), a lot of skeletal elements can be identified.\u00c2\u00a0All limbs are visible, as well as the pelvis, sacrum, and ribcage. I am definitely getting my money’s worth out of this kit. So far, I highly recommend getting one for yourself or the young person in your life. Who knows what future excavating will uncover!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As December rolled around, I found myself on Amazon browsing for good gifts. I settled on a large Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton for my brother (which looks amazing) and was ready to shut the browser window, when Amazon dangled another model in front of my eyes: an Australopithecus afarensis (e.g. Lucy)… Read more“Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Pretend-Excavating Australopithecus afarensis, Part 1","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[20],"tags":[8,188,187,186],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1034,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/1034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithcchan.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}