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: 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.
More Science and technology
5 microelectronics projects win nearly $30M in federal funding
Five projects led by the Southwest Advanced Prototyping HUB at Arizona State University to advance national security have been awarded nearly $30 million in federal funding. White House and U.S.…
ASU, Princeton scientists uncover surprising insights into habitability of super-Earths
A recent study conducted by a collaboration of scientists from Arizona State University and Princeton University have discovered that super-Earths — rocky planets up to approximately five times the…
Evolving the framework of cancer theory
Cancer cells are driven by the same imperative guiding all living things: to grow, survive and reproduce. Although cancer’s evolutionary underpinnings have been recognized since the 1950s, clinicians…