Lucy: 3.2 Million-Year-Old Humanoid Skeleton

Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis.She lived roughly between 2.95 and 3.85 million years ago.Lucy is roughly 3.2 million years old.Carbon dating Lucy's bones failed. Argon-Argon dating, however, estimated her lifespan using surrounding soil.

Researchers agree Lucy died as a young adult. Skeletal clues, including wear on her wisdom teeth, point to this. Fusion points on her bones show she had a fully formed skeleton.She is just under 3.18 million years old.Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson found Lucy in 1974. The Beatles were very popular then. After Johanson found the skeleton, he and his team returned to camp to celebrate.

He put on a Beatles cassette. The song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" named the skeleton.Scientists don't know how Lucy died, but she did not suffer an attack by a predator. Researchers at Arizona State University offer this view.Skeletal clues, including wear on Lucy's wisdom teeth, suggest she was a young adult. Fusion points on her bones show she had a complete skeleton.

Lucy's skeleton showed no such signs, except for one puncture mark from a carnivore's tooth on her pelvis.

Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson found Lucy in 1974. The Beatles were very popular then. After Johanson found the skeleton, he and his team returned to camp to celebrate.In most sexually dimorphic ape species, males had bigger teeth. But with Australopithecus afarensis, tooth size stayed the same for both men and women. Scientists suggest this species did not need large teeth for male dominance displays.The song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" gave the skeleton its name.

Scientists do not know how Lucy died. However, she likely did not face an attack from a predator.Researchers at Arizona State University conducted this research.Researchers state Lucy's skeleton bears evidence clearly pointing to bipedality.

Animals killed by predators and then eaten by scavengers, like hyenas, show bone damage. They show chewing, crushing, and gnawing. Long bone ends often disappear, and shafts break, letting predators reach the marrow.

Lucy's skeleton showed no signs of this, except for one puncture mark from a carnivore's tooth on her pelvic bone.

Lucy stood about.She stood 3.5 feet tall and weighed 60-65 pounds.Some scientists think her small size does not suggest gender. Others believe it points to her being female. The species is Australopithecus afarensis.Australopithecus afarensis is sexually dimorphic.This means males differed in size and look from females.In most ape species with sexual dimorphism, males had larger teeth. However, Australopithecus afarensis males and females had the same tooth size. Scientists suggest this species did not need large teeth for male dominance displays.

To date, only one theory exists for Lucy's death: a fall from a great height. Lucy suffered crushing fractures in many body areas. Some experts think she died from these injuries.Australopithecus afarensis transitioned from trees to walking upright. A fall from a high tree makes sense.With no evidence of carnivores eating her body, a predator likely did not attack or kill Lucy. Scientists still cannot determine her death cause with certainty.

Researchers say Lucy's skeleton shows evidence pointing to bipedality.suffered compressive fractures to many areas of her body, and some experts believe she died from these injuries. Australopithecus afarensis transitioned from living in trees to walking upright on the ground, so a fall from a high tree makes sense.

With no evidence of carnivores feeding on her body, a predator likely didn't attack or kill Lucy. Scientists, however, may never determine her cause of death with any certainty.

According to researchers, Lucy's skeleton bears "evidence clearly pointing to bipedalityHer legs show clues. Knee joints and kneecaps display signs of walking upright. Her pelvis also points to adaptations for standing, not knuckle-walking.

Her toes look more like human toes than an ape's. The big toe points forward, not to the side. Her spinal vertebrae have the curve needed for standing straight.

The territory ofAustralopithecus afarensiscovered the modern countries ofEthiopia, Kenya, and TanzaniaLucy turned up at an archaeological dig site near the Ethiopian village of Hadar in Eastern Africa.Ethiopian village of Hadar.

Archaeological digs usually yield only a few bones in poor shape. But with Lucy, archaeologists found aboutResearchers found 40% of a complete skeleton.. Researchers found no bone duplicates at the site.

One bone shows another body. Thankfully, the hundreds of bone fragments found shared a single skeleton.

Lucy is not the only member ofAustralopithecus afarensisArcheologists also found "The First Family" skeletons (also from Hadar) and the Dikika "child skeleton" millions of years after death.

Other scientists uncoveredAu.afarensisResearchers found afarensis fossils in Laetoli, Tanzania, along with the oldest recorded bipedal footprint trails.

Theoriginal Lucy skeletonThe original Lucy skeleton found a home at the Paleoanthropology Laboratories of the National Museum of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa. Before that, shetraveled the United States in 2007, and many US institutions hold scans and copies of her bones for studies.