Australopithecus afarensis Lucy Skeleton Discovered

On November 24, 1974, paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray discovered a partial hominin skeleton at Afar Locality 288 near Hadar, Ethiopia. Designated AL 288-1 and nicknamed Lucy after the Beatles song played at the celebration camp that night, the 40-percent-complete skeleton represented a female Australopithecus afarensis dating to approximately 3.2 million years ago. The remains showed a small brain case comparable to chimpanzees combined with skeletal features confirming habitual bipedal locomotion, demonstrating that upright walking preceded significant brain enlargement.