View source for Biology:Lucy (Australopithecus)

{{Short description|3.2-million-year-old fossilized hominid}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Lucy (''Australopithecus'')}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Infobox fossil
| catalog number   = AL 288-1
| common name      = Lucy
| image            = Lucy.jpg
| country          = {{flag|Ethiopia|1975}}
| species          = ''[[Biology:Australopithecus afarensis|Australopithecus afarensis]]''
| age              = 3.2 million years
| place discovered = Afar Depression, Ethiopia
| date discovered  = {{start date and age|1974|11|24}}
| discovered by    = {{plainlist|<!--
*not at discovery Yves Coppens/-->
*[[Biography:Donald Johanson|Donald Johanson]]
*Maurice Taieb
*Yves Coppens
*Tom Gray}}
}}
'''AL 288-1''', commonly known as '''Lucy''' or '''Dink’inesh''' ({{lang-am|ድንቅ ነሽ|lit=you are marvellous}}), is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone comprising 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the [[Biology:Hominini|hominin]] species ''[[Biology:Australopithecus afarensis|Australopithecus afarensis]]''. It was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, at Hadar, a site in the Awash Valley of the Afar Triangle, by [[Biography:Donald Johanson|Donald Johanson]], a [[Biology:Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologist]] of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=8}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=9}}<ref name=iho1/>

Lucy is an early [[Biology:Australopithecine|australopithecine]] and is dated to about 3.2 million years ago. The skeleton presents a small skull akin to that of non-hominin [[Biology:Ape|ape]]s, plus evidence of a walking-gait that was [[Bipedalism|bipedal]] and upright, akin to that of humans (and other [[Biology:Hominini|hominins]]); this combination supports the view of human evolution that bipedalism preceded increase in [[Biology:Brain size|brain size]].<ref>''Hadar'' entry in ''Encyclopædia'' (2008).</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Origins of Humankind |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfBKN2PVfnUC |first=Stephen |last=Tomkins |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |year=1998 |pages=136 |isbn=978-0-521-46676-9}}</ref> A 2016 study proposes that ''Australopithecus afarensis'' was also, to a large extent, [[Biology:Arboreal locomotion|tree-dwelling]], though the extent of this is debated.<ref name="NYT-20161130">{{cite news |last=Klein |first=Joanna |title=Study Suggests 3.2 Million-Year-Old Lucy Spent a Lot of Time in Trees |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/science/lucy-bones-trees.html |date=November 30, 2016 |work={{wipe|New York Times}} |access-date=November 30, 2016 }}</ref><ref name="Ruff Burgess Ketcham Kappelman 2016 p=e0166095">{{cite journal | last1=Ruff | first1=Christopher B. | last2=Burgess | first2=M. Loring | last3=Ketcham | first3=Richard A. | last4=Kappelman | first4=John | title=Limb Bone Structural Proportions and Locomotor Behavior in A.L. 288-1 | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=11 | issue=11 | year=2016 | page=e0166095 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0166095 | pmid=27902687 | pmc=5130205| bibcode=2016PLoSO..1166095R | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Lucy was named by Pamela Alderman after the 1967 song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles, which was played loudly and repeatedly in the expedition camp all evening after the excavation team's first day of work on the recovery site.{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|pp=7-8}} After public announcement of the discovery, Lucy captured much international interest, becoming a household name at the time.

Lucy became famous worldwide, and the story of her discovery and reconstruction was published in a book by Johanson and Edey. Beginning in 2007, the fossil assembly and associated artefacts were exhibited publicly in an extended six-year tour of the United States; the exhibition was called ''Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia''. There was discussion of the risks of damage to the unique fossils, and other museums preferred to display casts of the fossil assembly.<ref name=bloom/> The original fossils were returned to Ethiopia in 2013, and subsequent exhibitions have used casts.

==Discovery==
{{Human timeline}}

===Organizing the expedition===
French [[Geologist|geologist]] and [[Biology:Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologist]] Maurice Taieb discovered the Hadar Formation for [[Biology:Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropology]] in 1970 in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia, then in Hararghe province; he recognized its potential as a likely repository of the fossils and artifacts of human origins. Taieb formed the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE) and invited three prominent international scientists to conduct research expeditions into the region. Under his directorship, these were: [[Biography:Donald Johanson|Donald Johanson]] (co-director), an American paleoanthropologist and curator at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who later founded the [[Organization:Institute of Human Origins|Institute of Human Origins]], now part of [[Organization:Arizona State University|Arizona State University]]; Yves Coppens (1934–2022, co-director), a French paleoanthropologist appointed in 1983 a professor at the Collège de France, which is considered to be France's most prestigious research establishment, and Mary Leakey, the noted British paleoanthropologist. An expedition was soon mounted with seven French and four American participants; in the autumn of 1973 the team began surveying sites around Hadar for signs related to the origin of humans.<ref>{{harvnb|Johanson|Edey|1981|pp=154–158}}</ref>

[[File:Lucy (Frankfurt am Main).jpg|thumb|left|Side view of cast of Lucy in the Naturmuseum Senckenberg]]

===First find===
In November 1971, near the end of the first field season, Johanson noticed a fossil of the upper end of a shinbone, which had been sliced slightly at the front. The lower end of a [[Biology:Femur|femur]] was found near it, and when he fitted them together, the angle of the knee joint clearly showed that this fossil, reference [[Biology:AL 129-1|AL 129-1]], was an upright walking hominin. This fossil was later dated at more than three million years old—much older than other hominin fossils known at the time. The site lay about {{convert|2.5|km}} from the site where "Lucy" subsequently was found, in a rock stratum {{convert|200|ft|m|order=flip|round=10}} deeper than that in which the Lucy fragments were found.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/knee-joint/johanson1.html |title=Lucy's Knee Joint. Letter from Donald Johanson |date=August 8, 1989 |work=[[Organization:Institute of Human Origins|Institute of Human Origins]]}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Johanson|Edey|1981|pp=159–163}}</ref>

===Subsequent findings===
The team returned for the second field season the following year and found hominin [[Medicine:Jaw|jaw]]s. Then, on the morning of November 24, 1974, near the Awash River, Johanson abandoned a plan to update his field notes and joined graduate student Tom Gray to search Locality 162 for bone fossils.{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=4}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=5}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=6}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=7}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=8}}{{sfn|Johanson|Wong|2009|p=9}}

By Johanson's later (published) accounts, both he and Tom Gray spent two hours on the increasingly hot and arid plain, surveying the dusty terrain. On a hunch, Johanson decided to look at the bottom of a small [[Earth:Gully|gully]] that had been checked at least twice before by other workers. At first view nothing was immediately visible, but as they turned to leave a fossil caught Johanson's eye; an [[Biology:Humerus|arm bone]] fragment was lying on the slope. Near it lay a fragment from the back of a small skull. They noticed part of a femur (thigh bone) a few feet (about one meter) away. As they explored further, they found more and more bones on the slope, including [[Biology:Vertebra|vertebra]]e, part of a [[Biology:Pelvis|pelvis]], [[Biology:Rib|rib]]s, and pieces of jaw. They marked the spot and returned to camp, excited at finding so many pieces apparently from one individual hominin.<ref name=iho1>{{cite web |url=https://iho.asu.edu/about/lucys-story |title=Lucy's Story |access-date=2014-02-15 |work=[[Organization:Institute of Human Origins|Institute of Human Origins]]}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Johanson|Edey|1981|pp=20–21}}</ref>
[[File:Lucy Mexico.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cast of Lucy in Mexico]]

In the afternoon, all members of the expedition returned to the gully to section off the site and prepare it for careful excavation and collection, which eventually took three weeks. That first evening they celebrated at the camp; at some stage during the evening they named fossil AL 288-1 "Lucy", after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (1967), which was being played loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder in the camp.<ref name="Johanson 1981 18">{{harvnb|Johanson|Edey|1981|p=18}}</ref>

Over the next three weeks the team found several hundred pieces or fragments of bone with no duplication, confirming their original speculation that the pieces were from a single individual; ultimately, it was determined that an amazing 40 percent of a hominin skeleton was recovered at the site. Johanson assessed it as female based on the one complete pelvic bone and sacrum, which indicated the width of the pelvic opening.<ref name="Johanson 1981 18"/>

===Assembling the pieces===
Lucy was {{height|m=1.1|precision=0}} tall,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jungers |first=William L. |title=Lucy's length: Stature reconstruction in ''Australopithecus afarensis'' (A.L.288-1) with implications for other small-bodied hominids |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=227–231 |pmid=3137822 |date=June 1988 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330760211}}</ref> weighed {{convert|29|kg|abbr=on}}, and (after reconstruction) looked somewhat like a [[Biology:Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]. The creature had a small brain like a chimpanzee, but the pelvis and leg bones were almost identical in function to those of modern humans, showing with certainty that Lucy's species were hominins that had stood upright and had walked erect.<ref>{{harvnb|Johanson|Edey|1981|pp=20–22, 184–185}}</ref>

===Reconstruction in Cleveland===
With the permission of the government of Ethiopia, Johanson brought all the skeletal fragments to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio, where they were stabilized and reconstructed by anthropologist Owen Lovejoy. Lucy the pre-human [[Biology:Hominidae|hominid]] and fossil hominin, captured much public notice; she became almost a household name at the time. Some nine years later, and now assembled altogether, she was returned to Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mother of man – 3.2 million years ago |publisher=BBC Home |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/human/human_evolution/mother_of_man1.shtml |date=17 September 2014 |access-date=October 10, 2008}}</ref>

===Later discoveries===
Additional finds of ''A. afarensis'' were made during the 1970s and forward, gaining for anthropologists a better understanding of the ranges of morphic variability and sexual dimorphism within the species. A more complete skeleton of a related hominid, ''[[Biology:Ardipithecus|Ardipithecus]]'', was found in the same Awash Valley in 1992. "[[Biology:Ardi|Ardi]]", like "Lucy", was a [[Biology:Ardipithecus ramidus|hominid-becoming-hominin]] species, but, dated at {{Ma|4.4}}, it had evolved much earlier than the ''afarensis'' species. Excavation, preservation, and analysis of the specimen Ardi was very difficult and time-consuming; work was begun in 1992, with the results not fully published until October 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-skeleton-may-rewrite-earliest-chapter-human-evolution |title=Ancient Skeleton May Rewrite Earliest Chapter of Human Evolution |work=Science Now |date=October 1, 2009 |access-date=April 22, 2013 |last=Gibbons |first=Ann}}</ref>

==Age estimates of the fossil==
Initial attempts were made in 1974 by Maurice Taieb and James Aronson in Aronson's laboratory at [[Organization:Case Western Reserve University|Case Western Reserve University]] to estimate the age of the fossils using the [[Physics:K–Ar dating|potassium-argon radiometric dating method]]. These efforts were hindered by several factors: the rocks in the recovery area were chemically altered or reworked by volcanic activity; datable crystals were very scarce in the sample material; and there was a complete absence of pumice clasts at Hadar. (The Lucy skeleton occurs in the part of the Hadar sequence that accumulated with the fastest rate of deposition, which partly accounts for her excellent preservation.)

Fieldwork at Hadar was suspended in the winter of 1976–77. When it was resumed thirteen years later in 1990, the more precise argon-argon technology had been updated by Derek York at the [[Organization:University of Toronto|University of Toronto]]. By 1992 Aronson and Robert Walter had found  two suitable samples of [[Earth:Volcanic ash|volcanic ash]]—the older layer of ash was about 18 m below the fossil and the younger layer was only one meter below, closely marking the age of deposition of the specimen. These samples were argon-argon dated by Walter in the geochronology laboratory of the Institute of Human Origins at 3.22 and 3.18 million years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walter |first1=Robert C. |year=1994 |title=Age of Lucy and the First Family |journal=Geology |volume=22 |issue=January |pages=6–10 |bibcode = 1994Geo....22....6W |doi = 10.1130/0091-7613(1994)022<0006:AOLATF>2.3.CO;2 }}</ref>

==Notable characteristics==

===Ambulation===
One of the most striking characteristics of the Lucy skeleton is a [[Medicine:Genu valgum|valgus knee]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Stern Jr. | first1 = J. T. | last2 = Susman | first2 = R. L. | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.1330600302 | title = The locomotor anatomy of ''Australopithecus afarensis'' | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 60 | issue = 3 | pages = 279–317 | year = 1983 | pmid = 6405621}}</ref> which indicates that she normally moved by walking upright. Her [[Biology:Femur|femur]] presents a mix of ancestral and derived traits. The femoral head is small and the femoral neck is short; both are [[Biology:Primitive (phylogenetics)|primitive]] traits. The greater trochanter, however, is clearly a derived trait, being short and human-like—even though, unlike in humans, it is situated higher than the femoral head. The length ratio of her humerus (arm) to femur (thigh) is 84.6%, which compares to 71.8% for modern humans, and 97.8% for common chimpanzees, indicating that either the arms of ''A. afarensis'' were beginning to shorten, the legs were beginning to lengthen, or both were occurring simultaneously. Lucy also had a lordose curve, or lumbar curve, another indicator of habitual bipedalism.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1  = Lovejoy | first1 = C. Owen
| last2  = McCollum | first2 = Melanie A.
| title  = Spinopelvic pathways to bipedality: why no hominids ever relied on a bent-hip-bent-knee gait
| journal = Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci | date = October 27, 2010 | volume = 365 | issue = 1556 | pages = 3289–99
| doi   = 10.1098/rstb.2010.0112 | pmc = 2981964 | pmid=20855303
}} (Introduction)</ref> She apparently had physiological flat feet, not to be confused with [[Medicine:Flat feet|pes planus]] or any pathology, even though other ''afarensis'' individuals appear to have had arched feet.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Desilva | first1 = J. M. | last2 = Throckmorton | first2 = Z. J. | editor1-last = Rosenberg | editor1-first = Karen | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0014432 | title = Lucy's Flat Feet: The Relationship between the Ankle and Rearfoot Arching in Early Hominins | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 5 | issue = 12 | pages = e14432 | year = 2010 | pmid = 21203433| pmc =3010983 | bibcode = 2010PLoSO...514432D | doi-access = free }}</ref>

{{gallery
 |title=Mounted skeleton reconstructions
 |align=center
 |File:Lucy Skeleton.jpg|Lucy skeleton reconstruction at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History 
 |File:Cast of the skeleton of Lucy at MHNG-High poly.stl|Interactive 3D model of the skeleton reconstruction at the Natural History Museum of Geneva.
 |File:Cast of the skeleton of Lucy at MHNG-0001-0500.ogv|Turntable of the skeleton reconstruction at the Natural History Museum of Geneva.
}}

===Pelvic girdle===
Johanson recovered Lucy's left [[Biology:Hip bone|innominate bone]] and [[Biology:Sacrum|sacrum]]. Though the sacrum was remarkably well preserved, the innominate was distorted, leading to two different reconstructions. The first reconstruction had little iliac flare and virtually no anterior wrap, creating an ilium that greatly resembled that of an ape. However, this reconstruction proved to be faulty, as the superior pubic rami would not have been able to connect were the right ilium identical to the left.

A later reconstruction by [[Biography:Tim D. White|Tim White]] showed a broad iliac flare and a definite anterior wrap, indicating that Lucy had an unusually broad inner acetabular distance and unusually long superior pubic rami. Her pubic arch was over 90 degrees and derived; that is, similar to modern human females. Her acetabulum, however, was small and primitive.

=== Sacrum and spine ===
While examining Lucy's fossilized remains, it was believed that Lucy's [[Biology:Sacrum|sacrum]] had five fused elements. The sacrum was found to be in good condition with little damage done. Although the sacrum had five fused elements, the [[Biology:Vertebra|transverse processes]] of the most caudal element were not seen to connect to the segments craniad to it. This would result in researchers concluding that the sacrum suffered fossil damage which led to the fifth segment not connecting.

Although this was the case, recent studies are now coming out with new theories as to why Lucy's fifth sacral segment is in that shape. Some researchers conclude that Lucy has only four sacral segments. Published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Machnicki |first1=Allison L. |last2=Lovejoy |first2=C. Owen |last3=Reno |first3=Philip L. |date=2016-04-21 |title=Developmental identity versus typology: Lucy has only four sacral segments |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22997 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=160 |issue=4 |pages=729–739 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22997 |pmid=27101066 |issn=0002-9483}}</ref> researchers suggest that fossil damage did not shorten the transverse process and that Lucy's sacrum was in this state from the beginning. This specific study points to Lucy's sacrum having four sacral segments which researchers<ref name=":0" /> say conforms with the "long-back" model of hominoid [[Biology:Vertebral column|vertebral]] evolution. There are some disagreements in the community about the fifth sacral segment and if fossil damage was enough to change the fifth segment or if it was originally in that state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Russo |first1=Gabrielle A. |last2=Williams |first2=Scott A. |date=2014-10-21 |title="Lucy" (A.L. 288-1) had five sacral vertebrae |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajpa.22642 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=156 |issue=2 |pages=295–303 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22642 |pmid=25331588 |issn=0002-9483}}</ref> Discussed in the Journal,<ref name=":0" /> researchers conclude that Lucy having only four sacral segments is consistent with other findings related to early Miocene [[Biology:Ape|hominoids]].
[[File:Bienvenida al Museo de Lucy.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Lucy at the [[History:National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico)|National Museum of Anthropology]] in Mexico]]
Lucy's back is associated with approximately 9 [[Biology:Vertebra|vertebra]]e. Although Lucy was found with a relatively intact and well preserved sacrum, she was missing pieces in her spinal column. Lucy's discoverers and later workers had given the vertebrae provisional level assignments (Positions in the vertebral column) to locations within the vertebral column.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Meyer |first1=Marc R. |last2=Williams |first2=Scott A. |last3=Smith |first3=Michael P. |last4=Sawyer |first4=Gary J. |date=August 2015 |title=Lucy's back: Reassessment of fossils associated with the A.L. 288-1 vertebral column |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.007 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=85 |pages=174–180 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.007 |pmid=26058822 |s2cid=10410978 |issn=0047-2484}}</ref> Interestingly, some vertebrae were in worse conditions than others. Lucy had a worn out upper thoracic neutral arch. Researchers have yet to find a cause as to why this particular vertebrae was in worse condition than the other pieces.<ref name=":1" /> While accessing and restructuring Lucy's spinal column, it was noted to have been missing pieces that leave it incomplete. Not including an oddly worn out upper thoracic neutral arch, and the lumbar vertebrae, the other remaining thoracic vertebrae were compiled to form an incomplete formation. The formation was arranged from the sixth thoracic vertebrae (T6) to its caudal end (T12), with the seventh thoracic vertebrae (T7) missing. Currently the continuity differs in the thoracic series between researchers and it being reevaluated.<ref name=":1" /> Although there are new studies and reassessments being done,<ref name=":1" /> it does not refute previous work or conclusions about Lucy's spine.

===Cranial specimens===
The [[Biology:Skull|cranial]] evidence recovered from Lucy is far less derived than her [[Biology:Postcrania|postcranium]]. Her [[Medicine:Neurocranium|neurocranium]] is small and [[Biology:Primitive (phylogenetics)|primitive]], while she possesses more spatulate [[Biology:Canine tooth|canines]] than other apes. The [[Biology:Brain size|cranial capacity]] was about 375 to 500&nbsp;cubic centimeters.

===Rib cage and plant-based diet===
''Australopithecus afarensis'' seems to have had the same conical rib-cage found in today's non-human [[Biology:Hominidae|great apes]] (like the chimpanzee and gorilla), which allows room for a large stomach and the longer intestine needed for digesting voluminous plant matter. Fully 60% of the blood supply of non-human apes is used in the digestion process, greatly impeding the development of brain function (which is limited thereby to using about 10% of the circulation). The heavier musculature of the jaws—those muscles operating the intensive masticatory process for chewing plant material—similarly would also limit development of the braincase. During evolution of the human lineage these muscles seem to have weakened with the loss of the myosin gene [[Biology:MYH16 gene|MYH16]], a two base-pair deletion that occurred possibly about 2.4 million years ago.<ref name="stedman">{{cite journal | vauthors = Stedman HH, Kozyak BW, Nelson A, Thesier DM, Su LT, Low DW, Bridges CR, Shrager JB, Minugh-Purvis N, Mitchell MA | title = Myosin gene mutation correlates with anatomical changes in the human lineage | journal = Nature | volume = 428 | issue = 6981 | pages = 415–8 | date = March 2004 | pmid = 15042088 | doi = 10.1038/nature02358 | bibcode = 2004Natur.428..415S | s2cid = 4304466 }}</ref>

===Other findings===
A study of the mandible across a number of specimens of ''A. afarensis'' indicated that Lucy's jaw was rather unlike other hominins, having a more gorilla-like appearance.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1007/BF02380881| title = Critique of '''Australopithecus afarensis''' as a single species based on dental metrics and morphology| year = 1989| last1 = Ferguson | first1 = W. W.| journal = Primates| volume = 30| issue = 4| pages = 561–569| s2cid = 39160406}}</ref> Rak ''et al.'' concluded that this [[Biology:Morphology|morphology]] arose "independently in gorillas and hominins", and that ''A. afarensis'' is "too derived to occupy a position as a common ancestor of both the ''Homo'' and [[Biology:Paranthropus|robust australopith]] clades".<ref name=Rak>{{Cite journal | last1 = Rak | first1 = Y. | last2 = Ginzburg | first2 = A. | last3 = Geffen | first3 = E. | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0606454104 | title = Gorilla-like anatomy on ''Australopithecus afarensis'' mandibles suggests ''A. afarensis'' link to robust australopiths | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 104 | issue = 16 | pages = 6568–72 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17426152| pmc = 1871826| bibcode = 2007PNAS..104.6568R | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Work at the American Museum of Natural History uncovered a possible ''[[Biology:Theropithecus|Theropithecus]]'' vertebral fragment that was found mixed in with Lucy's vertebrae, but confirmed the remainder belonged to her.<ref>{{cite news |title=Baboon bone found in famous Lucy skeleton |publisher=New Scientist |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27325-baboon-bone-found-in-famous-lucy-skeleton/ |date=10 April 2015 |access-date=January 25, 2019}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Cast of the skeleton of Lucy at MHNG-IMG 1486.JPG|thumb|View of the teeth on a cast of the skeleton (Museum of Geneva)]]
Lucy's cause of death has not been determined. The specimen does not show the signs of post-mortem bone damage characteristic of animals killed by predators and then scavenged. The only visible damage is a single carnivore tooth mark on the top of her left pubic bone, believed to have occurred at or around the time of death, but which is not necessarily related to her death. Her third molars were erupted and slightly worn and, therefore, it was concluded that she was fully matured with completed skeletal development. There are indications of degenerative disease to her vertebrae that do not necessarily indicate old age. It is believed that she was a mature but young adult when she died.<ref>[https://iho.asu.edu/about/lucy%E2%80%99s-story#sixth ASU Institute of human origins, Lucy's story]</ref>

In 2016 researchers at the University of Texas at Austin suggested that Lucy died after falling from a tall tree.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=John Kappelman |author2=Richard A. Ketcham |author3=Stephen Pearce |author4=Lawrence Todd |author5=Wiley Akins |author6=Matthew W. Colbert |author7=Mulugeta Feseha |author8=Jessica A. Maisano |author9=Adrienne Witzel |title=Perimortem fractures in Lucy suggest mortality from fall out of tall tree|journal=Nature|volume=537|issue=7621|pages=503–507|pmid=27571283|year=2016|doi=10.1038/nature19332|bibcode=2016Natur.537..503K|s2cid=4402700 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-08/uota-usc082916.php|title=UT study cracks coldest case: How the most famous human ancestor died|access-date=August 29, 2016}}</ref> Donald Johanson and Tim White disagreed with the suggestions.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sample|first=Ian|date=August 29, 2016|title=Family tree fall: human ancestor Lucy died in arboreal accident, say scientists|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/29/family-tree-fall-human-ancestor-lucy-died-in-arboreal-accident-say-scientists|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=August 30, 2016}}</ref>

==Exhibitions==
[[File:Lucy (Australopithecus) National Museum of Ethiopia.jpg|thumb|Lucy in the National Museum of Ethiopia]]
The Lucy skeleton is preserved at the National Museum of Ethiopia in [[Place:Addis Ababa|Addis Ababa]]. A plaster replica is publicly displayed there instead of the original skeleton. A cast of the original skeleton in its reconstructed form is displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cmnh.org/site/AtTheMuseum/OnExhibit/PermanentExhibits.aspx | title=Permanent Exhibits | access-date=April 22, 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324040112/http://www.cmnh.org/site/AtTheMuseum/OnExhibit/PermanentExhibits.aspx | archive-date=March 24, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> At the [[Biology:American Museum of Natural History|American Museum of Natural History]] in {{wipe|New York City}} a diorama presents ''Australopithecus afarensis'' and other human predecessors, showing each species and its habitat and explaining the behaviors and capabilities assigned to each. A cast of the skeleton as well as a corpus reconstruction of Lucy is displayed at The Field Museum in Chicago.

===US tour===
A six-year exhibition tour of the United States was undertaken during 2007–13; it was titled ''Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia'' and it featured the actual Lucy fossil reconstruction and over 100 artifacts from prehistoric times to the present. The tour was organized by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and was approved by the Ethiopian government and the U.S. State Department.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=340&Itemid=373 |title=Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia |access-date=April 22, 2012 |year= 2008 |publisher= Houston Museum of Natural Science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625231218/http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=340&Itemid=373 |archive-date=June 25, 2013 }}</ref> A portion of the proceeds from the tour was designated to modernizing Ethiopia's museums.

There was controversy in advance of the tour over concerns about the fragility of the specimens, with various experts including paleoanthropologist Owen Lovejoy and anthropologist and conservationist [[Biography:Richard Leakey|Richard Leakey]] publicly stating their opposition, while discoverer Don Johanson, despite concerns for the possibility of damage, felt the tour would raise awareness of human origins studies. The Smithsonian Institution, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and other museums declined to host the exhibits.<ref name=bloom/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061101-lucy-tour.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113052621/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061101-lucy-tour.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 13, 2006 |title='Lucy' Fossil Tour Sparks Controversy Among U.S. Museums |access-date=2007-09-11 |author=Stefan Lovgren |date=November 1, 2006 |publisher= National Geographic News }}</ref>

The Houston Museum made arrangements for exhibiting at ten other museums, including the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.<ref name=bloom>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a7j_9OLhOJUI&refer=canada |title=Bloomberg.com: Canada |access-date=September 11, 2007 |author= Jim Kennett |date=August 31, 2007 |work=Lucy's Ancient Bones Visit Houston Museum as Scientists Fret }}</ref> In September 2008, between the exhibits in Houston and Seattle, the skeletal assembly was taken to the [[Organization:University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas at Austin]] for 10 days to perform high-resolution [[CT scan]]s of the fossils.<ref name=ct>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/rels/020609.html |title=Researchers Complete First CT Scan of Ancient Human Ancestor Lucy |access-date=February 6, 2009 |author=University of Texas at Austin Office of Public Affairs |date=February 6, 2009 |publisher=University of Texas at Austin |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211181019/http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/rels/020609.html |archive-date=February 11, 2009 |df=mdy }}</ref>

Lucy was exhibited at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City from June until October 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lucyexhibition.hmns.org/about-the-exhibit.aspx |title=Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia |access-date=June 4, 2009 |year=2009 |publisher=Houston Museum of Natural Science |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605080518/http://lucyexhibition.hmns.org/about-the-exhibit.aspx |archive-date=June 5, 2009 |df=mdy }}</ref> In New York, the exhibition included Ida (Plate B), the other half of the recently announced ''[[Biology:Darwinius|Darwinius masilae]]'' fossil.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2009/06/68130645/1#.UXV4kr_i7dk |title=Famous Fossil to go on display in Times Square |access-date=April 22, 2013 |publisher= USA Today |date=June 15, 2009}}</ref> She was also exhibited in Mexico at the Mexico Museum of Anthropology until its return to Ethiopia in May 2013.

Ethiopia celebrated the return of Lucy in May 2013.<ref name="return">[http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2013/05/02/lucy-comes-home-ethiopia-celebrates-iconic-fossil "'Lucy' comes home: Ethiopia celebrates iconic fossil"], ''Times Live'', May 7, 2013, accessed May 4, 2013</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Biology:Ardi|Ardi]] – more complete skeleton of earlier hominin species
* ''Dawn of Humanity'' – 2015 PBS documentary
* [[Biology:List of human evolution fossils|List of human evolution fossils]]
* ''Prehistoric Autopsy'' – 2012 BBC documentary
* [[Biology:Selam (Australopithecus)|Selam (''Australopithecus'')]] – young female ''A. afarensis'' fossil from Ethiopia
* [[Engineering:Lucy (spacecraft)|Lucy (spacecraft)]] – the NASA mission launched in 2021 to study Trojan asteroids described as fossils of the early solar system.
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|surname1= Johanson |given1= Donald |surname2= Edey |given2= Maitland |year=1981|title=Lucy, the Beginnings of Humankind|place=St Albans|publisher=Granada|isbn=978-0-586-08437-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Johanson |first1=Donald C. |last2=Wong |first2=Kate |title=Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxDnrgJrJrkC |publisher=Harmony Books |year=2009 |isbn= 978-0307396396 |pages=309}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/story/meet-lucy-the-famous-early-human/ygVREVFi46uRrA?hl=en Meet Lucy: The Famous Early Human]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111105000810/http://cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/PhysicalAnthropology/Announcements/Kadanuumuu.aspx Cleveland Museum of Natural History]
* {{cite web|url=https://iho.asu.edu/about/lucys-story|title=Institute of Human Origins|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|website=asu.edu|date=June 15, 2016|publisher=[[Organization:Arizona State University|Arizona State University]]}}
* [http://www.becominghuman.org/ "Becoming Human: Paleoanthropology, Evolution, and Human Origins"], a documentary hosted by Donald Johanson
* [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2006/05/08/2003306872 "New Link In Human Evolution Discovered"], facial reconstruction of Lucy, an Agence France-Presse photo published by the Taipei Times, May 8, 2006. Accessed September 11, 2007.
* {{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/human/human_evolution/mother_of_man1.shtml |title=BBC – Science & Nature – The evolution of man |access-date=November 1, 2007 |work=Mother of man – 3.2 million years ago }}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/human-origins/lucy|title=Lucy : American Museum of Natural History|access-date=February 19, 2014|publisher=AMNH / Rod Mickens}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.liv.ac.uk/premog/premog-research.htm#backevidence |title=PREMOG - Research |access-date=November 1, 2007 |date= May 18, 2007 |work=How Lucy walked |publisher=Primate Evolution & Morphology Group (PREMOG), the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, the School of Biomedical Sciences at the [[Organization:University of Liverpool|University of Liverpool]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071025040650/http://www.liv.ac.uk/premog/premog-research.htm#backevidence <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = October 25, 2007}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.liv.ac.uk/premog/premog-sup-info-SCIENCE.htm |title=PREMOG – Supplementry Info |access-date=November 1, 2007 |author= Thorpe S.K.S.|author2=Holder R.L. |author3=Crompton R.H. |date= May 24, 2007 |work=Origin of Human Bipedalism As an Adaptation for Locomotion on Flexible Branches |publisher=Primate Evolution & Morphology Group (PREMOG), the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, the School of Biomedical Sciences at the [[Organization:University of Liverpool|University of Liverpool]] |quote=Based on computer simulations of the mechanics of motion in fossil human ancestors such as the famous 'Lucy' skeleton, our research group has long argued that early human ancestors would have walked upright, rather than semi-crouched, as the old 'up from the apes' view has suggested But we have not been able to say where such upright walking originated. Now, research on the orangutan, suggests that upright walking may have been a basic element of the lifestyle of the earliest ancestors of modern apes, including humans, which would have been tree-dwelling specialists on ripe fruit, living among the fine branches of tropical forest trees. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070717191040/http://www.liv.ac.uk/premog/premog-sup-info-SCIENCE.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = July 17, 2007}}
* [http://elucy.org/ University of Texas's eLucy.org website] Enables visitors to view bones and bone casts, and learn more about human origins and evolution. Activities and lessons are provided to encourage additional study.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090310151817/http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200903066 National Public Radio "Science Friday" interview with Dr. Donald Johanson titled "Lucy's Legacy" originally aired on March 6, 2009]
* ''[https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.104384 Australopithecus afarensis]'' – ''Science'' Journal Article
* [http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Sci-Tech/Science-And-Environment/Israeli-researchers-Lucy-is-not-direct-ancestor-of-humans Israeli researchers: 'Lucy' is not direct ancestor of humans]
* [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)] – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).


{{Human Evolution|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Neogene fossil record]]
[[Category:Transitional fossils]]

{{Sourceattribution|Lucy (Australopithecus)}}