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Lucy Catalog no. AL 288-1 Common name Lucy Species Australopithecus afarensis Age 3.2 million years Place discovered Afar Depression, Ethiopia Date discovered November 24, 1974 ; 50 years ago (1974-11-24) Discovered by Donald Johanson Maurice Taieb Yves Coppens Tom Gray AL 288-1, commonly known as Lucy or Dinkʼinesh, is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone comprising 40 ...
Pamela Alderman, a member of the expedition, suggested she be named "Lucy" after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," which was played repeatedly during the night of the discovery. A bipedal hominin , Lucy stood about three and a half feet tall; her bipedalism supported Raymond Dart's theory that australopithecines walked upright.
Lucy’s discovery transformed our understanding of human origins. Don Johanson, who unearthed the Australopithecus afarensis remains in 1974, recalls the moment he found the iconic fossil.
Lucy is the most famous fossil to have been found at Hadar. Lucy is among the oldest hominin fossils ever discovered [6] and was later given the taxonomic classification Australopithecus afarensis. (The name 'Lucy' was inspired by the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles, which happened to be playing on the radio at base camp.)
Ethiopia is well known for its significant fossil-bearing beds which have borne some of the oldest and most complete fossil hominids. One well-known example is Lucy. Her hominid species Australopithecus afarensis is named after the Afar Ethiopian region where it was discovered. Other discoveries are still being made.
Australopithecus is considered a grade taxon whose members are united by their similar physiology rather than close relations with each other over other hominin genera. It is unclear how any Australopithecus species relate to each other, [20] but it is generally thought that a population of A. anamensis evolved into A. afarensis. [10] [20] [21]
The most famous Australopithecus fossil is the one nicknamed Lucy, which was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and is about 3.2 million years old. Lucy, likely female, stood about one meter (3.5 feet ...
Ethiopia is considered the area from which anatomically modern humans emerged. [1] Archeological discoveries in the country's sites have garnered specific fossil evidence of early human succession, including the hominins Australopithecus afarensis (3.2 million years ago) and Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years ago).