Lucy

For all other uses of the word Lucy, see Lucy (disambiguation).

Lucy: Australopithecus afarensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Genus: Australopithecus Species: afarensis
Binomial name
Australopithecus afarensis

Lucy is a 3.18 million year old female hominid, of the genus Australopithecus, whose skeleton was discovered on November 30, 1974 by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia. They named it "Lucy" in reference to the famous Beatles song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", which was played as they celebrated the find.

Lucy was the first fossil hominid to really capture public notice, becoming almost a household name at the time.

Current opinion is that the Lucy skeleton should be classified in the species Australopithecus afarensis.

Lucy is preserved at the national Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A plaster replica is displayed instead of the original skeleton.

See also

• Evolution of Homo sapiens