Yves Coppens was digging in the field at the time when Africa was being recognised as the cradle of mankind. It was in 1974, in the Awash valley of Ethiopia, that the team he formed with Maurice Taieb and Donald Johanson unearthed the skeleton of an australopithecine three million two hundred thousand years old, promptly nicknamed Lucy. His stone has him die twenty years too soon, two digits having been reversed.
The story
His stone has him dying in 2002. He died on 22 June 2022: the engraver swapped the last two digits and took twenty years off him. The irony is complete for a man whose trade was dating things.
Born at Vannes on 9 August 1934, Yves Coppens did field palaeontology in a century that was discovering Africa as the cradle of mankind. In 1974, in the Awash valley in Ethiopia, the team he formed with Maurice Taieb and Donald Johanson uncovered AL 288-1: an australopithecine skeleton 3.2 million years old, at once nicknamed Lucy. No fossil in the world is looked at more often.
Professor at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in 1980, he entered the Collège de France in 1983, to the chair of palaeontology and prehistory, and became one of the most listened-to popularisers in the country. In 2002 — the real date, this time — he chaired the commission that drew up the Charter for the Environment, written into the Constitution in 2005.
He rests in Division 52, on Chemin de la Cave, first row. A few metres away, on the same path but in Division 49, lies Gisèle Halimi, the lawyer who won the Bobigny abortion trial.
The grave
A brief and false inscription: “Yves COPPENS, 1934-2002”. The palaeontologist died on 22 June 2022; the engraver reversed the last two digits and took twenty years from him. The irony is complete for a man whose profession was dating — and who had put an age, 3.2 million years, on the most famous skeleton in the world.
On site, do not miss
Read the second date: the stone says 2002; he died in 2022. Twenty years' difference from two reversed digits.
Visitors' questions
Where is Yves Coppens's grave?
In Division 52, chemin de la Cave, first row — a few metres from Gisèle Halimi's, on the same path. The Division is also that of the historian Jules Michelet and the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Jules MicheletWhat is Lucy?
Skeleton AL 288-1, an australopithecine 3.2 million years old, found in Ethiopia in 1974 by the team of Yves Coppens, Maurice Taieb and Donald Johanson. The most famous fossil in the world, and the most often copied.
Georges CuvierIs there a mistake on Yves Coppens's grave?
Yes, and it runs to twenty years: the stone reads “1934-2002” when he died in 2022. The engraver reversed the last two figures. Père-Lachaise holds some twenty carved date errors of this kind.
Armand de CaulaincourtWhat did Yves Coppens do outside palaeontology?
In 2002 he chaired the commission that drew up the Charter for the Environment, written into the French Constitution in 2004, and he was one of the most widely heard popularisers of science in the country.
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