Australopithecus afarensis, "Lucy"

“Lucy” is the nickname for the Australopithecus afarensis partial skeleton that was discovered in the Afar desert of Ethiopia in 1974 by an international team of scientists led by former Museum curator Dr. Donald Johanson. When the partial skeleton was found, it was the oldest and most complete early human ancestor ever found, with 40 percent of the skeleton unearthed. Lucy has served as an important reference that has expanded researchers’ understanding of the morphology and anatomy of the earliest human ancestors and increased our knowledge of human evolution.

This reconstruction, created by the CMNH Exhibits team and on display in the Gallery of Human Origins from the late 1990’s through the late 2000’s, is now considered outdated. New knowledge from specimens discovered in Ethiopia indicate that Lucy did not have a funnel-shaped (ape-like) rib cage, as depicted in this model, nor a barrel-shaped (human-like) rib cage. The shape was intermediate between humans and apes. In addition, this reconstruction does not show lumbar lordosis, the curvature of the lower spine that characterizes hominins that walk on two legs.