Hadar is an archaeological site located in East Africa. M. Taieb, a French geologist, discovered Hadar in 1968. Understanding the anthropological significance of the site, Taieb organized a survey of the area in 1971. D.C. Johanson, Y. Coppens and J. Kalb joined him and they formed the International AFAR Research Expedition.
During their research in 1973, they found a knee joint and a partial temporal. These are the first early hominid fossils recovered from Hadar. They also found about six thousand fossils of mammals and discovered hominid teeth in 1974.
At the end of 1974, D.C. Johanson discovered the partial skeleton of a tiny female hominid which was nicknamed "Lucy." There is evidence for a catastrophic death of a group of hominids. Hundreds of hominid fossil fragments were found, these are believed to represent thirteen individuals of different ages.
The group studied over one hundred stratigraphic sections and subdivided this sedimentary sequences into four stratigrahphic members. The top of the Hadar units date to ca. 2.9 million years ago. The lower units date to 3.6 million years ago. Thus it can be stated confidently that "Lucy" is 3 million years old. All of the Hadar fossils are housed permanently at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
Sources
Ian Tattersall, et al. eds, Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory. Chicago: St James Press, 1988.
D. I. Loizos. "Human Prehistory: An Exhibition"
http://users.hol.gr/~dilos/prehis/prerm3.htm Date: 13 Jun 1998, 2/18/99.
Mohammad Zaki