Lucy quickly became a celebrity of the fossil record. The search for human ancestors . As a kid growing up in Connecticut, Johanson got a book from a neighbor that planted an electrifying idea: ...

Donald Johanson excavating a fossil in 1975. (Image credit: David Brill) Finding Lucy. The modern story of Lucy began on Nov. 24, 1974, in Hadar, Ethiopia.

Lucy’s discovery transformed our understanding of human origins. Don Johanson, who unearthed the Australopithecus afarensis remains in 1974, recalls the moment he found the iconic fossil.

Lucy the fossil has another nickname. In Ethiopia she is known as Dinkinesh, which means “you are marvelous” in one of the country’s official languages, Amharic.

In 1975, just one year after Lucy was found at Afar Locality 288, the Hadar team discovered more than 200 fossil hominin specimens eroding from a single layer of rock at nearby Afar Locality 333.

In his view, traits of that fossil indicate that one branch of Lucy’s species evolved into the first members of the genus Homo, and eventually gave rise to H. sapiens (SN: 3/4/15).

The fossil "Lucy" is unveiled in Ethiopia at Addis Ababa's National Museum on May 7, 2013. Jenny Vaughan / AFP via Getty Images. If we were to meet them in life, A. afarensis ...

Lucy walked on her own two feet. Scientists weren’t expecting that. We take a look back at the discovery of ‘Australopithecus afarensis’ 50 years ago. Donald Johanson really had no business ...

Donald Johanson discovered the Lucy fossil 50 years ago NPR's Scott Simon speaks with paleoanthropologist, Donald Johanson, about the 50th anniversary of his biggest discovery, Lucy, an early ...

Lucy, formally known as A.L. 288-1, ... Fossils of hominins — the group that includes modern humans and our close ancestors — had been dated to 1.8 million years ago at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

Lucy quickly became a celebrity of the fossil record. The search for human ancestors. As a kid growing up in Connecticut, Johanson got a book from a neighbor that planted an electrifying idea: ...