Lucy is one of the most famous archaeological specimens ever found. She is a part ape, part-human fossil that was found in the Great Rift Valley on November 30, 1974. Locating human branches of primate evolution through the findings of fossils is difficult. Lucy is the first link found to support the evolution theory and is still an important piece of data today. Donald Johanson and his team had by chance found a fossil of a knee joint on a walk through the Rift Valley. They later gathered volcanic ash from around the specimen and tested it to find the date. It turned out the fossil was over 3 million years old and there was about forty percent of the entire skeleton preserved. They called her "Lucy", after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." She was the first fossil found of the species Australopithecus afarensis and with all of these factors combined, Lucy became known as one of the most remarkable finds of science.
Australopithecus afarensis lived from approximately 4 to 2.7 million years ago along the northern Rift valley of east Africa, and perhaps even earlier. .
Fragments of more than 300 individuals of Australopithecus afarensis have been discovered so far, including the remarkably complete skeleton of an adult female, "Lucy" She was found in 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia. Her skeleton has provided a wealth of information about the ancestral line of human beings. She was only about 3 feet, 8 inches tall. Males were somewhat taller and twice as robust.
Australopithecus afarensis is classified as an ape, not a human. It is a Hominid, which is an ape closely related to human beings. In terms of overall body size, brain size and skull shape, "Lucy" resembles a chimpanzee. However, "Lucy" has some surprisingly human characteristics. For example, the way the hip joint and pelvis articulate indicates that "Lucy" walked upright like a human, not like a chimp. This means that upright posture and bi-pedalism preceded the development of what we would recognize as human beings and human intelligence.
