Lucy (hominid fossil)

Lucy is the nickname for a 3.2-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of an early human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. She belongs to a species called Australopithecus afarensis, considered one of the earliest members of the human family tree. Lucy's skeletal structure shows evidence of both human-like walking upright and arboreal (tree-climbing) abilities. Her discovery provided crucial insights into human evolution, demonstrating that upright walking predated the development of larger brains. Lucy’s nearly complete skeleton allowed scientists to better understand how early hominids lived, moved, and evolved millions of years ago.