Do Ancient Lucy’s Bones Show Nudity and Shame
What does the skeleton of our oldest known ancestor, Ancient Lucy, say about being naked? Scientists found Lucy 3.2 million years ago in Ethiopia.
Though just bones remain, we can learn a lot from her. Lucy, nudity, and shame are more accessible
Most pictures show furry Ancient Lucy. But new research suggests she had way less hair!
Around the same time, our human family tree lost most body fur. For over 2.5 million years, ancestors like Lucy walked around naked!
What nudity showed
Being nude changed things. Partners sticking together to raise kids was important. But being naked tempted cheating, making parenting hard.
So “shame” evolved – it encourages loyalty and shared childcare. Only when nakedness became not allowed did it feel shameful.
What’s naked today wasn’t yesterday though. Ankles caused gasps long ago but bare skin is normal at beaches now.
Even art fakes what’s real – paintings make nudity for male enjoyment, not natural nakedness.
Ancient Lucy’s secrets
Lucy still holds secrets, but recreations of her are stuck in their time’s views, not fact. Beyond the veil, imagining new roles for mothers like brave Lucy inspires.
She challenges beliefs about old relations and our bare beginnings as a species. Through her bones, nudity’s story emerges from the distant past.
Let me share a few more angles on Ancient Lucy story
It’s wild to think dear ole Lucy was strolling around in her birthday suit some 3.2 million years ago!
I can’t even imagine how freeing that must have felt without a stitch of fur or cloth. No wonder we call ourselves “naked apes”.
Yet being without coverings also came with challenges beyond just temptation, as that anthropologist explained.
Things like temperature regulation or protecting sensitive areas couldn’t have been easy without fur’s protection. Ancient Lucy and her kin sure were tough!
Thinking more on shame’s role too – while it helped bonding, it also meant cultural rules around nakedness.
Over time, some took it way too far like oppressing whole genders. But shame’s initial purpose of caring for kids together was pretty neato, in my view.
Final Take
All this also makes me reflect on how far we’ve come, yet still have left to go, in accepting one another’s bodies natural states.
Who knows – maybe someday in the far future, folks will uncover OUR bones and wonder what all our hangups with nudity were about!
Anyway, I hope Ancient Lucy’s story of natural nudity and our collective journey gives you perspective and inspiration.
Her bones are a reminder that we all start off essentially the same under the skin. Thanks for pondering this with me!
