Science news this week: Lucy’s legs and ancient rock art

This week in science news we pushed our understanding of human evolution even further back with the discovery of human shin bone fragments in the “Cave of the Monkeys.” Found deep within a cave in Laos, it means Homo sapiens arrived in Southeast Asia as early as 86,000 years ago. We also learnt that “Lucy,” the 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor, had massive leg muscles to stand up straight and climb trees. The finding bolsters a growing consensus among researchers that Australopithecus afarensis — the extinct species to which Lucy belongs — walked erect rather than with a chimpanzee-like, crouching waddle.

In much more recent human history — around 3,000 years ago to be specific — we unearthed a vast cemetery of Bronze Age burial mounds near Stonehenge and an “octagonal” sword so well preserved it shines. We may also have finally worked out what was being depicted in some mysterious rock art painted by Aboriginal people.