The story of paleoanthropology told by one of it's greatest actors. Yves Coppens, professor at the Collège de France and discoverer of Lucy, tells us the story of a humanity which, looking back, realizes the path it has traveled. By appearing, paleoanthropology has given us a much longer and richer history than that imposed by the Church. Since the 19th century, excavations have multiplied, techniques have become more rigorous, and the technologies used have improved. The work of generations of researchers, modern anthropology and isotope dating have made it possible to make new discoveries, but above all to understand them and place them in our common history, that of humanity. This historiographical account is told to us with the ease and humor usual of Yves Coppens in a sound work accessible to all.