The tiny bone that led to a very big discovery
This summer, Donald Johanson, the Virginia M. Ullman Chair in Human Origins in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the founding director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, visited the location where he first discovered the Lucy fossil skeleton in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974. He explained that the “first bone” he found from Lucy was part of the upper arm. Photo by Steve Filmer/ASU
Nov. 24 will mark 50 years since Arizona State University’s Donald Johanson discovered the Lucy fossil skeleton. It’s a find that shook the world of paleoanthropology and that still spawns new research.
The saying goes that “big things come from small beginnings,” so we asked Johanson — the founding director of ASU’s Institute of Human Origins — to show us the first tiny bone of Lucy that he spotted, and how it led to his discovery of Lucy’s skeleton in Hadar, Ethiopia.
The 3.2-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of a creature called Australopithecus afarensis, considered a direct human ancestor, preserved enough of her spine, pelvis and lower legs to show that Lucy and her kind were walking upright — like we do. The find is important because it suggests that our ancestors started walking upright before their brains (and skulls) began growing larger.
ASU is celebrating Lucy with a year of special events, including a gala, a symposium and a monthly lecture series. Learn more on the Institute of Human Origins website.
Spotlighting details of the discovery
This video is the first in a monthly series on ASU News leading up the November anniversary.
Up next in September: What might Lucy have looked like when she was alive? There's no time machine to take us back 3.2 million years, but a very special artist shows us how he has fused human anatomy with prehistoric finds to make a lifelike re-creation of Lucy.
October: The crown jewel: Finding a complete skull for Lucy.
November: Donald Johanson on the momentous discovery and the future of related research.
Explore more: Find more coverage of the anniversary celebration at news.asu.edu/spotlight/lucy-at-50.
More Science and technology
Time-consuming task of conserving Jane Goodall Institute field notes gets a boost from AI
Arizona State University is continuing the legacy of scientist, conservationist and ethologist Jane Goodall by bringing decades of research into the digital age using AI.In March 2022, the Jane…
AI and robotics researchers at ASU work to keep people safe, healthy
As Arizona State Unviversity continues to shine in U.S. patent rankings, robotics and artificial intelligence garner a growing percentage of such technologies. Two faculty members among the…
A new chapter in national security research at ASU
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, into a low orbit around the Earth. Only the size of a beach ball, the satellite sent shock waves through the United…