SEEDS & WEEDS: The Funniest Things People Have Said About GARDENING

THE FUNNIEST THINGS PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT GARDENING 333
“Not modern humans.”
“No — we think they were made by Australopithecus afarensis.”
“Family to the famous Lucy,” one of us said. “Among our human
ancestors.”
“Correct.”
This site was small, a little larger than a tennis court. But as we
looked at it, we began to feel a kinship with these people. We’d seen tools
made by ancient people, which was moving. So is seeing the bones and
skulls they left behind.
But seeing these people’s footprints made them alive to us. As if they
had walked through here just a few days ago.
“We felt the same thing when we first arrived,” Denisova said, sensing
our thoughts. “We still do. We can tell a great deal about what everyday
life was like for people just by looking at their footprints.”
“Example?”
“We’ve learned a lot about how ancient people dealt with their
children,” she said. “The kids pretty much went along and did what their
parents did. If the parents were cutting up an animal they’d hunted down,
we see from the footprints that the kids were right with them.”
“Helicopter kids,” one of us quipped.
“Exactly!” Denisova said, laughing.
“It gets even more detailed than that,” she said. “A really good tracker
can tell you the speed a person was walking, whether they were carrying