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AL 288-1, commonly known as Lucy or Dinkinesh (), is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone comprising 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the
hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...
species ''
Australopithecus afarensis ''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ta ...
''. It was discovered in 1974 in
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, at Hadar, a site in the
Awash Valley } The Awash River (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo: ''Awaash OR Hawaas'', Amharic: ዐዋሽ, Afar: ''Hawaash We'ayot'', Somali: ''Webiga Dir'', Italian: ''Auasc'') is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boun ...
of the
Afar Triangle The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar triple junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; th ...
, by
Donald Johanson Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia. Biography Ea ...
, a
paleoanthropologist Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and biological anthropology, anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as wikt:hominization, hominization, throug ...
of the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...
. Lucy is an early
australopithecine The australopithecines (), formally Australopithecina or Hominina, are generally any species in the related genera of ''Australopithecus'' and ''Paranthropus''. It may also include members of '' Kenyanthropus'', ''Ardipithecus'', and '' Praeant ...
and is dated to about 3.2 million years ago. The skeleton presents a small skull akin to that of non-hominin
ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...
s, plus evidence of a walking-gait that was
bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' ...
and upright, akin to that of
humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
(and other
hominins The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas), ...
); this combination supports the view of human evolution that bipedalism preceded increase in
brain size The size of the brain is a frequent topic of study within the fields of anatomy, biological anthropology, animal science and evolution. Measuring brain size and cranial capacity is relevant both to humans and other animals, and can be done by wei ...
. A 2016 study proposes that ''Australopithecus afarensis'' was, at least partly, tree-dwelling, though the extent of this is debated. Lucy was named by Pamela Alderman after the 1967 song "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...
" by
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, which was played loudly and repeatedly in the expedition camp all evening after the excavation team's first day of work on the recovery site. After public announcement of the discovery, Lucy captured much international interest, becoming a household name at the time. Lucy became famous worldwide, and the story of her discovery and reconstruction was published in a book by Johanson and Edey. Beginning in 2007, the fossil assembly and associated artefacts were exhibited publicly in an extended six-year tour of the United States; the exhibition was called ''Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia''. There was discussion of the risks of damage to the unique fossils, and other museums preferred to display casts of the fossil assembly. The original fossils were returned to Ethiopia in 2013, and subsequent exhibitions have used casts. Recent research has revealed that she is no longer considered the earliest known member of the human family. Contrary to earlier beliefs that her species first walked upright in open savanna grasslands, new evidence suggests they walked in grassy woodlands with deciduous trees. Her species adapted to various habitats over millennia, enduring changes in climate. Importantly, she was not alone in her environment. "We have multiple omininspecies in the same time period," said Yohannes Haile-Selassie, director of the Institute of Human Origins at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
.


Discovery


Background controversy

Ever since the development of
evolutionary theory Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...
in the early 19th century, biologists recognized that humans must be distantly related to all other species. Without
transitional fossil A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross ...
s, scientists presumed that humans' closest relatives were the
great ape The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
s. They also assumed the first traits to evolve after
speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...
related to
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
: big
brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
s,
tool use Tool use by non-humans is a phenomenon in which a non-human animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, grooming, combat, defence, communication, recreation or construction. Originally thought to b ...
, and complex language. In the 1920s,
Raymond Dart Raymond Arthur Dart (4 February 1893 – 22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist, best known for his involvement in the 1924 discovery of the first fossil found of '' Australopithecus africanus'', an extinct hominin ...
discovered the
Taung child The Taung Child (or Taung Baby) is the fossilised skull of a young ''Australopithecus africanus''. It was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa. Raymond Dart described it as a new species ...
. That skeleton seemed
bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' ...
(unlike chimps), but lacked skull space for a powerful brain. Without further data to contextualize Dart's find, anthropologists could not prove whether bipedality, intelligence, or some other trait had first distinguished proto-humans from their great ape relatives.


Organizing the expedition

French
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
and
paleoanthropologist Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and biological anthropology, anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as wikt:hominization, hominization, throug ...
Maurice Taieb Maurice Taieb (22 July 1935 – 23 July 2021) was a Tunisian French geologist and paleoanthropologist. He discovered the Hadar,_Ethiopia#Archeological_findsite, Hadar formation, recognized its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founde ...
discovered the
Hadar Formation Hadar or Hadar Formation (also spelled ''Qad daqar'', ''Qadaqar''; Afar "white 'qidi''stream 'daqar'') Jon Kalb ''Adventures in the Bone Trade'' (New York: Copernicus Books, 2001), p. 83 is a paleontological fossil site located in Mille dis ...
for
paleoanthropology Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinsh ...
in 1970 in the
Afar Triangle The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar triple junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; th ...
of
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, then in
Hararghe Hararghe ( ''Harärge''; Harari language, Harari: ሀረርጌ፞ይ, هَرَرْݘٛىيْ,''Harargêy'', Oromo language, Oromo: Harargee, ) was a provinces of Ethiopia, province of eastern Ethiopia with its capital in Harar. Etymology Harargh ...
province; he recognized its potential as a likely repository of the fossils and artifacts of human origins. Taieb formed the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE) and invited three prominent international scientists to conduct research expeditions into the region. Under his directorship, these were:
Donald Johanson Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia. Biography Ea ...
(co-director), an American paleoanthropologist and curator at the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...
, who later founded the
Institute of Human Origins The Institute of Human Origins (IHO) is a non-profit, multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to the recovery and analysis of the fossil evidence for human evolution. It was founded by the team of paleoanthropologists that discovered Lucy ...
, now part of
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
;
Yves Coppens Yves Coppens (9 August 1934 – 22 June 2022) was a French anthropologist and co-discoverer of "Lucy". A graduate from the University of Rennes and the Sorbonne, he studied ancient hominids and had multiple published works on this topic, and a ...
(1934–2022, co-director), a French paleoanthropologist appointed in 1983 a professor at the
Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
, which is considered to be France's most prestigious research establishment, and
Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul (mammal), Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now ...
, the noted British paleoanthropologist. An expedition was soon mounted with seven French and four American participants; in the autumn of 1973 the team began surveying sites around Hadar for signs related to the origin of humans.


First find

In November 1973, near the end of the first field season, Johanson noticed a fossil of the upper end of a
shinbone The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the t ...
, which had been sliced slightly at the front. The lower end of a
femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...
was found near it, and when he fitted them together, the angle of the knee joint clearly showed that this fossil, reference AL 129-1, was an upright walking hominin. This fossil was later dated at more than three million years old—much older than other hominin fossils known at the time. The site lay about from the site where "Lucy" subsequently was found, in a rock stratum deeper than that in which the Lucy fragments were found.


Subsequent findings

The team returned for the second field season the following year and found hominin
jaw The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth ...
s. Then, on the morning of November 24, 1974, near the
Awash River } The Awash River (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo language, Oromo: ''Awaash OR Hawaas'', Amharic: ዐዋሽ, Afar language, Afar: ''Hawaash We'ayot'', Somali language, Somali: ''Webiga Dir'', Italian language, Italian: ''Auasc'') is a major river ...
, Johanson abandoned a plan to update his field notes and joined graduate student Tom Gray to search Locality 162 for bone fossils. By Johanson's later (published) accounts, both he and Tom Gray spent two hours on the increasingly hot and arid plain, surveying the dusty terrain. On a hunch, Johanson decided to look at the bottom of a small
gully A gully is a landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given ter ...
that had been checked at least twice before by other workers. At first view nothing was immediately visible, but as they turned to leave a fossil caught Johanson's eye; an arm bone fragment was lying on the slope. Near it lay a fragment from the back of a small skull. They noticed part of a femur (thigh bone) a few feet (about one meter) away. As they explored further, they found more and more bones on the slope, including
vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...
e, part of a
pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...
,
rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...
s, and pieces of jaw. They marked the spot and returned to camp, excited at finding so many pieces apparently from one individual hominin. In the afternoon, all members of the expedition returned to the gully to section off the site and prepare it for careful excavation and collection, which eventually took three weeks. That first evening they celebrated at the camp; at some stage during the evening they named fossil AL 288-1 "Lucy", after
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' song "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...
" (1967), which was being played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder in the camp. Over the next three weeks the team found several hundred pieces or fragments of bone with no duplication, confirming their original speculation that the pieces were from a single individual; ultimately, it was determined that an amazing 40 percent of a hominin skeleton was recovered at the site. Johanson assessed it as female based on the one complete pelvic bone and sacrum, which indicated the width of the pelvic opening.


Assembling the pieces

Lucy was tall, weighed , and (after reconstruction) looked somewhat like a
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...
. The creature had a small brain like a chimpanzee, but the pelvis and leg bones were almost identical in function to those of modern humans, showing with certainty that Lucy's species were hominins that had stood upright and had walked erect.


Reconstruction in Cleveland

With the permission of the government of Ethiopia, Johanson brought all the skeletal fragments to the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...
in
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, where they were stabilized and reconstructed by
anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
Owen Lovejoy Owen Lovejoy (January 6, 1811 – March 25, 1864) was an American lawyer, Congregational minister, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, and Republican United States Congress, congressman from Illinois. He was also a "conductor ...
. Lucy the pre-human
hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
and fossil hominin, captured much public notice; she became almost a household name at the time. Some nine years later, and fully assembled, she was returned to Ethiopia.


Later discoveries

Additional finds of ''A. afarensis'' were made during the 1970s and forward, gaining for anthropologists a better understanding of the ranges of morphic variability and sexual dimorphism within the species. A more complete skeleton of a related hominid, ''
Ardipithecus ''Ardipithecus'' is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene epochs in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the chim ...
'', was found in the same
Awash Valley } The Awash River (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo: ''Awaash OR Hawaas'', Amharic: ዐዋሽ, Afar: ''Hawaash We'ayot'', Somali: ''Webiga Dir'', Italian: ''Auasc'') is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boun ...
in 1992. "
Ardi ARDI is the Access to Research for Development and Innovation program, a partnership between the World Intellectual Property Organization and major scientific and technical publishers. ARDI provides access to nearly 10,000 online journals, books and ...
", like "Lucy", was a hominid-becoming-hominin species, but, dated at , it had evolved much earlier than the ''afarensis'' species. Excavation, preservation, and analysis of the specimen Ardi was very difficult and time-consuming; work was begun in 1992, with the results not fully published until October 2009.


Fossil age estimates

Initial attempts were made in 1974 by Maurice Taieb and James Aronson in Aronson's laboratory at
Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...
to estimate the age of the fossils using the potassium-argon radiometric dating method. These efforts were hindered by several factors: the rocks in the recovery area were chemically altered or reworked by volcanic activity; datable crystals were very scarce in the sample material; and there was a complete absence of pumice clasts at Hadar. (The Lucy skeleton occurs in the part of the Hadar sequence that accumulated with the fastest rate of deposition, which partly accounts for her excellent preservation.) Fieldwork at Hadar was suspended in the winter of 1976–77. When it was resumed thirteen years later in 1990, the more precise argon-argon technology had been updated by Derek York at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. By 1992 Aronson and Robert Walter had found two suitable samples of
volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...
—the older layer of ash was about 18 m below the fossil and the younger layer was only one meter below, closely marking the age of deposition of the specimen. These samples were argon-argon dated by Walter in the geochronology laboratory of the Institute of Human Origins at 3.22 and 3.18 million years.


Skeletal characteristics


Ambulation

One of the most striking characteristics of the Lucy skeleton is a valgus knee, which indicates that she normally moved by walking upright. Her
femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...
presents a mix of ancestral and
derived traits In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ha ...
. The
femoral head The femoral head (femur head or head of the femur) is the highest part of the thigh bone (femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the ...
is small and the
femoral neck The femoral neck (also femur neck or neck of the femur) is a flattened pyramidal process of bone, connecting the femoral head with the femoral shaft, and forming with the latter a wide angle opening medialward. Structure The neck is flattene ...
is short; both are primitive traits. The
greater trochanter The greater trochanter of the femur is a large, irregular, quadrilateral eminence and a part of the skeletal system. It is directed lateral and medially and slightly posterior. In the adult it is about 2–4 cm lower than the femoral head.Sta ...
, however, is clearly a derived trait, being short and human-like - even though, unlike in humans, it is situated higher than the femoral head. The length ratio of her humerus (arm) to femur (thigh) is 84.6%, which compares to 71.8% for modern humans, and 97.8% for common chimpanzees, indicating that either the arms of ''A. afarensis'' were beginning to shorten, the legs were beginning to lengthen, or both were occurring simultaneously. Lucy also had a lordose curve, or lumbar curve, another indicator of habitual bipedalism. She apparently had physiological flat feet, not to be confused with pes planus or any pathology, even though other ''afarensis'' individuals appear to have had arched feet.


Pelvic girdle

Johanson recovered Lucy's left
innominate bone The hip bone (os coxae, innominate bone, pelvic bone or coxal bone) is a large flat bone, constricted in the center and expanded above and below. In some vertebrates (including humans before puberty) it is composed of three parts: the ilium, isch ...
and
sacrum The sacrum (: sacra or sacrums), in human anatomy, is a triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part of the pelvic cavity, ...
. Though the sacrum was remarkably well preserved, the innominate was distorted, leading to two different reconstructions. The first reconstruction had little iliac flare and virtually no anterior wrap, creating an ilium that greatly resembled that of an ape. However, this reconstruction proved to be faulty, as the
superior pubic rami In vertebrates, the pubis or pubic bone () forms the lower and anterior part of each side of the hip bone. The pubis is the most forward-facing (ventral and anterior) of the three bones that make up the hip bone. The left and right pubic bones ar ...
would not have been able to connect were the right ilium identical to the left. A later reconstruction by Tim White showed a broad iliac flare and a definite anterior wrap, indicating that Lucy had an unusually broad inner acetabular distance and unusually long superior pubic rami. Her
pubic arch The pubic arch, also referred to as the ischiopubic arch, is part of the pelvis. It is formed by the convergence of the inferior rami of the ischium and pubis on either side, below the pubic symphysis. The angle at which they converge is known a ...
was over 90 degrees and derived; that is, similar to modern human females. Her acetabulum, however, was small and primitive.


Sacrum and spine

While examining Lucy's fossilized remains, it was believed that Lucy's
sacrum The sacrum (: sacra or sacrums), in human anatomy, is a triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part of the pelvic cavity, ...
had five fused elements. The sacrum was found to be in good condition with little damage done. Although the sacrum had five fused elements, the
transverse processes Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...
of the most caudal element were not seen to connect to the segments craniad to it. Researchers concluded that the sacrum suffered fossil damage which led to the fifth segment not connecting. Although this was the case, in the mid-2010s studies came out with new theories as to why Lucy's fifth sacral segment is in that shape. Some researchers conclude that Lucy has only four sacral segments. Published in the ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'', researchers suggest that fossil damage did not shorten the transverse process and that Lucy's sacrum was in this state from the beginning. This specific study points to Lucy's sacrum having four sacral segments which researchers say conforms with the "long-back" model of hominoid
vertebral Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...
evolution. There are some disagreements in the community about the fifth sacral segment and if fossil damage was enough to change the fifth segment or if it was originally in that state. Discussed in the Journal, researchers conclude that Lucy having only four sacral segments is consistent with other findings related to early
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
hominoids Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...
. Lucy's back is associated with approximately 9
vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...
e. Although Lucy was found with a relatively intact and well preserved sacrum, she was missing pieces in her spinal column. Lucy's discoverers and later workers had given the vertebrae provisional level assignments to locations within the vertebral column. Some vertebrae were in worse conditions than others. Lucy had a worn out upper
thoracic The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main ...
neutral arch. Researchers have yet to find a cause as to why this particular vertebrae was in worse condition than the other pieces. While accessing and restructuring Lucy's spinal column, it was noted to have been missing pieces that leave it incomplete. Not including an oddly worn out upper thoracic neutral arch, and the
lumbar vertebrae The lumbar vertebrae are located between the thoracic vertebrae and pelvis. They form the lower part of the back in humans, and the tail end of the back in quadrupeds. In humans, there are five lumbar vertebrae. The term is used to describe t ...
, the other remaining thoracic vertebrae were compiled to form an incomplete formation. The formation was arranged from the sixth thoracic vertebrae (T6) to its caudal end (T12), with the seventh thoracic vertebrae (T7) missing. the continuity differs in the thoracic series between researchers and is being re-evaluated. Although new studies and reassessments are being done, they do not refute previous work or conclusions about Lucy's spine.


Cranial specimens

The
cranial Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Thi ...
evidence recovered from Lucy is far less derived than her postcranium. Her
neurocranium In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, brain-pan, or brainbox, is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the cal ...
is small and primitive, while she possesses more spatulate canines than other apes. The
cranial capacity The size of the brain is a frequent topic of study within the fields of anatomy, biological anthropology, animal science and evolution. Measuring brain size and cranial capacity is relevant both to humans and other animals, and can be done by wei ...
was about 375 to 500  cubic centimeters.


Rib cage and plant-based diet

''Australopithecus afarensis'' seems to have had the same conical rib-cage found in today's non-human
great apes The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
(like the chimpanzee and gorilla), which allows room for a large stomach and the longer intestine needed for digesting voluminous plant matter. Fully 60% of the blood supply of non-human apes is used in the digestion process, greatly impeding the development of brain function (which is limited thereby to using about 10% of the circulation). The heavier musculature of the jaws—those muscles operating the intensive masticatory process for chewing plant material—similarly would also limit development of the braincase. During evolution of the human lineage these muscles seem to have weakened with the loss of the myosin gene MYH16, a two base-pair deletion that occurred possibly about 2.4 million years ago.


Other findings

A study of the
mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...
across a number of specimens of ''A. afarensis'' indicated that Lucy's jaw was rather unlike other hominins, having a more gorilla-like appearance. Rak ''et al.'' concluded that this
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
arose "independently in gorillas and hominins", and that ''A. afarensis'' is "too derived to occupy a position as a common ancestor of both the ''Homo'' and robust australopith clades". Work at the American Museum of Natural History uncovered a possible '' Theropithecus'' vertebral fragment that was found mixed in with Lucy's vertebrae, but confirmed the remainder belonged to her.


Death

Lucy's cause of death has not been determined. The specimen does not show the signs of post-mortem bone damage characteristic of animals killed by predators and then scavenged. The only visible damage is a single carnivore tooth mark on the top of her left pubic bone, believed to have occurred at or around the time of death, but which was not necessarily related to her death. Her third molars were erupted and slightly worn and, therefore it was concluded that she was fully matured with completed skeletal development. There are indications of degenerative disease to her vertebrae that do not necessarily indicate old age. It is believed that she was a mature but young adult when she died. In 2016, researchers at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
suggested that Lucy died after falling from a tall tree. However, Donald Johanson and Tim White disagreed with this conclusion.


Exhibitions

The Lucy skeleton is preserved at the National Museum of Ethiopia in
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
. A plaster replica is publicly displayed there instead of the original skeleton. A cast of the original skeleton in its reconstructed form is displayed at the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...
. At the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
a diorama presents ''Australopithecus afarensis'' and other human predecessors, showing each species and its habitat and explaining the behaviors and capabilities assigned to each. A cast of the skeleton as well as a corpus reconstruction of Lucy is displayed at
The Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
in Chicago.


US tour

A six-year exhibition tour of the United States was undertaken during 2007–13; it was titled ''Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia'' and it featured the actual Lucy fossil reconstruction and over 100 artifacts from prehistoric times to the present. The tour was organized by the
Houston Museum of Natural Science The Houston Museum of Natural Science (abbreviated as HMNS) is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Soci ...
and was approved by the Ethiopian government and the US State Department. A portion of the proceeds from the tour was designated to modernizing Ethiopia's museums. There was controversy in advance of the tour over concerns about the fragility of the specimens, with various experts including paleoanthropologist
Owen Lovejoy Owen Lovejoy (January 6, 1811 – March 25, 1864) was an American lawyer, Congregational minister, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, and Republican United States Congress, congressman from Illinois. He was also a "conductor ...
and anthropologist and conservationist
Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...
publicly stating their opposition, while discoverer Don Johanson, despite concerns for the possibility of damage, felt the tour would raise awareness of human origins studies. The
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
,
Cleveland Museum of Natural History The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in University Circle, a district of educational, cultural and medical institutions approximately five miles (8 km) east of Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The ...
and other museums declined to host the exhibits. The Houston Museum made arrangements for exhibiting at ten other museums, including the
Pacific Science Center Pacific Science Center (PacSci) is a nonprofit science education organization in Seattle, Washington, United States. Its main science museum is on the ground of the Seattle Center near Downtown Seattle with auxiliary facilities in Bellevue, Washi ...
in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
. In September 2008, between the exhibits in Houston and Seattle, the skeletal assembly was taken to the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
for 10 days to perform high-resolution
CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...
s of the fossils. Lucy was exhibited at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City from June until October 2009. In New York, the exhibition included Ida (Plate B), the other half of the recently announced '' Darwinius masilae'' fossil. She was also exhibited in Mexico at the Mexico Museum of Anthropology until its return to Ethiopia in May 2013. Ethiopia celebrated the return of Lucy in May 2013."'Lucy' comes home: Ethiopia celebrates iconic fossil"
''Times Live'', May 7, 2013, accessed May 4, 2013


See also

*
Ardi ARDI is the Access to Research for Development and Innovation program, a partnership between the World Intellectual Property Organization and major scientific and technical publishers. ARDI provides access to nearly 10,000 online journals, books and ...
– more complete skeleton of earlier hominin species * ''
Dawn of Humanity ''Dawn of Humanity'' is a 2015 American documentary film that was released online on September 10, 2015, and aired nationwide in the United States on September 16, 2015. The PBS NOVA National Geographic film, in one episode of two hours, was ...
'' – 2015 PBS documentary *
List of human evolution fossils The following tables give an overview of notable finds of Hominini, hominin fossils and Skeleton, remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the Chimpanzee–human last common ancest ...
* '' Prehistoric Autopsy'' – 2012 BBC documentary * Selam (''Australopithecus'') – young female ''A. afarensis'' fossil from Ethiopia *
Lucy (spacecraft) ''Lucy'' is a NASA space probe on a twelve-year journey to eight different asteroids. It is slated to visit two Asteroid belt, main belt asteroids as well as six Jupiter trojans – asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, orbiting ...
– the NASA mission launched in 2021 to study Trojan asteroids described as fossils of the early solar system.


References


Works cited

* *


External links


Meet Lucy: The Famous Early Human

Cleveland Museum of Natural History
*
"Becoming Human: Paleoanthropology, Evolution, and Human Origins"
a documentary hosted by Donald Johanson
"New Link In Human Evolution Discovered"
facial reconstruction of Lucy, an
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
photo published by the
Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is an English-language print newspaper in Taiwan published by the Liberty Times Group. Founded as the third English-language newspaper on 15 June 1999, it is currently the last surviving English-language print newspaper i ...
, May 8, 2006. Accessed September 11, 2007. * * * *
University of Texas's eLucy.org website
Enables visitors to view bones and bone casts, and learn more about human origins and evolution. Activities and lessons are provided to encourage additional study.
National Public Radio "Science Friday" interview with Dr. Donald Johanson titled "Lucy's Legacy" originally aired on March 6, 2009
*
Australopithecus afarensis
' – ''Science'' Journal Article
Israeli researchers: 'Lucy' is not direct ancestor of humans

Human Timeline (Interactive)
Smithsonian,
National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...
(August 2016). {{Authority control 1974 archaeological discoveries 1974 in Ethiopia 1974 in paleontology November 1974 in Africa History of the Afar Region Archaeological discoveries in Ethiopia Archaeology of Eastern Africa Articles containing video clips Australopithecus fossils Hominin fossils Neogene fossil record Prehistoric Ethiopia Transitional fossils Prehistoric Afar Triangle