Sally McBrearty facts for kids

Sally McBrearty was an American scientist who studied ancient humans and their tools. She was a professor and leader of the anthropology department at the University of Connecticut. Her work helped us understand how modern human behavior developed. She also made a big discovery: the first known fossil of a chimpanzee.

Her Journey in Science

Sally McBrearty studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her PhD from Illinois in 1986. A PhD is a very high university degree.

In 1994, she joined the University of Connecticut. She became a full professor in 2002. In 2008, she became the head of the anthropology department. Before this, she worked at Brandeis University, Yale University, and the College of William & Mary.

In 2007, she was chosen as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is an honor given to scientists who have made important contributions.

Amazing Discoveries

How Humans Became Modern

Dr. McBrearty did important work on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Africa. This was a time when early humans lived. Her research changed how we think about modern human behavior.

With her colleague Alison S. Brooks, she wrote a famous paper. It was called "The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior." This paper is one of the most-read in the study of ancient tools.

They argued that modern human behavior did not appear suddenly. Instead, it developed slowly in Africa over a long time. They found signs of this modern behavior very early in the MSA. This idea challenged older views. Many people used to think that modern human behavior appeared quickly in Europe.

Finding Ancient Chimpanzees

Dr. McBrearty and her colleague Nina Jablonski found the first known chimpanzee fossils. This was a huge discovery!

In 2004, Dr. McBrearty found the first fossil. It was a molar tooth. She found it during her surveys in Kapthurin, in the East African Rift Valley. She immediately thought it was from an ape.

Dr. Jablonski, who studies monkey fossils, then looked at the tooth. She confirmed it was a chimpanzee tooth. She also found a second chimpanzee tooth, an incisor, in the same collection.

The next year, Dr. McBrearty's team went back to Kapthurin. They found two more fossil chimpanzee teeth. They believe all four teeth came from the same chimpanzee.

Dr. McBrearty and Dr. Jablonski announced their discovery in 2005. They published their findings in the science magazine Nature. These were not only the first chimpanzee fossils ever found. They were also the first fossils of modern, non-human apes found in Africa.

The teeth were about 500,000 years old. They were also found outside the area where chimpanzees live today. This changed an old idea that the Rift Valley was a barrier for chimpanzees.

Dr. McBrearty thinks that chimpanzee fossils are rare. This is because their favorite homes, like wet jungles, are not good for preserving bones. Researchers did not expect to find chimpanzee ancestors in the drier Rift Valley. This area was usually seen as a place for early humans. But Dr. McBrearty believes more chimpanzee fossils might be there because the conditions for preservation are better.

Personal Life

Sally McBrearty lived in Glastonbury, Connecticut. She was married to Andrew Hill. He was also a paleoanthropologist. Andrew Hill passed away in 2015.