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
ASU travel behavior research center provides insights on the future of transportation
The Center for Teaching Old Models New Tricks, known as TOMNET, has spent the past seven years conducting research and developing tools to improve transportation systems planning methods and data.As…
When suspect lineups go wrong
It is one of the most famous cases of eyewitness misidentification.In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment. During the assault, she tried to make a…
Jackpot! ASU hackers win $2M at Vegas AI competition
This August, a motley assortment of approximately 30,000 attendees, including some of the best cybersecurity professionals, expert programmers and officials from top government agencies packed the…