A guide to our fossil relatives, the cast of characters who hold the secret to humankind's origins. The impressions left in the ash reveal that a small group - with different sized feet - were walking from south to north. Lucy's skeleton consists of 47 out of 207 bones, including parts of the arms, legs, spine, ribs and pelvis, as well as the lower jaw and several other skull fragments. None of the bones were duplicates, supporting the conclusion that they came from a single individual. Some of the anatomical changes compared to the earlier species Au. Replica in the Museum's Human Evolution gallery of some of the footprints preserved at Laetoli, Tanzania, thought to be made by Australopithecus afarensis. They have been dated to about 3.4 million years ago and the team involved attribute the butchery to Au. Further eruptions covered the footprints they left behind, preserving them for posterity. Au. See also Hadar; Laetoli; Sterkfontein. The numbers of available specimens of A. afarensis from Hadar (including over 30 crania) have allowed continuing scholarship in several regions concerning Lucy and her family. CT scans revealed fractures in her shoulder joint and arms similar to those observed in people who fall from a great height, as if she reached out to break her fall. Its absence, along with the presence of bipedalism, is thought to be characteristic of species on the hominin lineage. The central Afar basin was first surveyed by Maurice Taieb in the 1960s; and in 1973, Taieb, Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens formed the International Afar Research Expedition to begin an extensive exploration of the region. K. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. The researchers believe the injuries observed were severe enough that internal organs could also have been damaged. africanus from South Africa - but its discovery confirmed our ancient relatives habitually walked upright, and that this feature of the human lineage occurred long before the evolution of bigger brains. A number of other significant Au. Credit: photo by F Spoor, courtesy of the National Museum of Tanzania. Monday - Sunday 288-1). This is a broad range, pointing to high sexual dimorphism - the difference in size and shape between males and females. Researchers studied injuries to Lucy's bones to see whether they offered insights into how she died, publishing their findings in 2016. afarensis finds have been made in addition to Lucy and the Laetoli footprints. The top of its skull (the cranial vault) was slightly domed and its brain was comparable in size to a chimpanzee's. afarensis wasn't the first member of the group discovered - that was the Au. The species was defined, using Hadar and A. afarensis specimens from Laetoli in Tanzania, in 1978. anamensis suggest there was a change in diet towards foods that were harder or tougher over time, as Au. © James St John [CC BY 2.0], from Flickr. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lucy-fossil. Ethiopian palaeontologist Zeresenay Alemseged holding the skull of Selam © Andrew Heavens [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0], from Flickr. © Pbuergler [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons. For example, even the San Diego Union Tribune reported, “A chance discovery made by looking at a cast of the bones of ‘Lucy,’ the most famous fossil of Australopithecus afarensis, shows her wrist was stiff, like a chimpanzee’s, Brian Richmond and David Strait of George Washington University in … Lucy, nickname for a remarkably complete (40 percent intact) hominin skeleton found by Donald Johanson at Hadar, Eth., on Nov. 24, 1974, and dated to 3.2 million years ago. Lucy clearly fits into the smaller group. These features are seen in the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands. At the time, Au. afarensis. Its face projected outwards, less so in females than in males. Prof Donald Johanson, discoverer of Lucy and other Australopithecus afarensis fossils, face-to-face with the skull of another early hominin. Australopithecus afarensis discoveries in the 1970s, including Lucy and the Laetoli fooprints, confirmed our ancient relatives were bipedal - walking upright on two legs - before big brains evolved. Au. She was the first nearly complete skeleton recovered for the species, found in 1974 at the Afar Locality (AL) 228, a site in the Hadar archaeological region on the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia. Johanson thought Lucy was either a small member of the genus Homo or a small australopithecine. Various lines of evidence suggest that Au. A cast of Lucy, the partial skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis female found at Hadar, in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Age: 3.2 million years old This relatively complete female skeleton is the most famous individual from this species, nicknamed ‘Lucy’ after the song ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’ sung by The Beatles. Although Au. None of the bones were duplicates, supporting the conclusion that they came from a single individual. Australopithecus afarensis jaw replica. The formal attribution AL 288-1 is rarely used beyond academic journals. Perhaps crucially, it left the hands free to do other tasks, such as carry food and use tools. The ability to walk upright may have offered survival benefits, such as the ability to spot dangerous predators earlier. If they withstand scrutiny, this would be the earliest evidence of meat-eating behaviour by a hominin. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The genital prolapse of Australopithecus Lucy? afarensis was the oldest hominin species known, although far older species have since been found. Reassessment of fossils associated with the A.L. However, A. afarensis teeth are not significantly different between males and females. Biomechanical analysis suggests the bipedal gait was not entirely modern though, and that the leg may have been slightly more bent at the knee as the foot hit the floor. ​A. However, Australopithecus species had hands that were well suited for the controlled manipulation of objects, and they probably did use tools.