Au. afarensis’s remains appear in the fossil record between around 3.9 million and 3 million years ago. Lucy and her kin left behind bones from nearly every part of their skeleton, and even, in ...

A. afarensis existed at an important period in hominin history, when our earliest relatives were adapting to a life centered on walking, rather than climbing trees.

Fossils of early humans from a South African cave are 3.4 million to 3.6 million years old, a million years older than previously suspected. The discovery is changing our understanding of ...

These data shed new light on two questions that have been controversial. The first is whether there is evidence for human-like brain evolution in A. afarensis, and the second is whether the pattern of ...

A sculptor's rendering of "Lucy," Australopithecus afarensis, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on August 28, 2007. Dave Einsel / Getty Images About 3.2 million years ago, among the ...

3D polygonal model, guided by imaging scan data and muscle scarring, reconstructing the lower limb muscles of the Australopithecus afarensis fossil AL 288-1, aka "Lucy." Credit: Ashleigh Wiseman ...

Australopithecus afarensis, an ancient human ancestor who lived around 3 million years ago, spent most of its time walking, instead of climbing trees like chimps.

More than three million years after her death, the early human ancestor known as Lucy is still divulging her secrets. In 2016, an autopsy indicated that the female Australopithecus afarensis ...

Australopithecus afarensis looked like a mix between modern humans and other great apes. Imagine an individual who stands around 150 centimeters (just under 5 feet) tall, with a chimp-like face ...

When Au. afarensis was named as a new species in 1978, it was the earliest human ancestor ever documented, with an age range of 3.8 million to 3.0 million years ago.

A sculptor's rendering shows what Australopithecus afarensis looked like 3.2 million years ago. Dave Einsel/Getty Images. Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter.

For decades after Lucy's discovery, paleoanthropologists assumed A. afarensis was the only hominin that lived in this region ...