Australopithecus afarensis
These early hominids from East Africa are well known. The discovery of "Lucy" makes it clear that these ancestors were already walking upright before a large brain had developed.
Profile
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Meaning of the name |
"Southern ape" from the Afar region |
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Discovery site |
East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya) |
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Age |
3.9 –2.9 million years |
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Height and weight |
♂: 1.50 m, 45 kg ♀: 1.10 m, 30 kg |
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Brain size |
300 to 530 cm3 |
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Body characteristics |
Flat forehead, broad cheekbones, protruding jaw, funnel-shaped chest, long arms, curved fingers, short legs, broad and short pelvis. |
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Teeth |
Mixture of primitive and modern features; reduced canines, large molars. |
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Habitat |
Forests, savannahs and bushland in East Africa. |
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Nutrition |
Plant-based (fruits, leaves, seeds, roots) |
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Tools |
No reliable evidence of tool manufacture. |
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Best known find |
AL 288-1, also known as Lucy, was discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson in the Hadar region of the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia. Lucy is 3.2 million years old. About 40 % of the skeleton was found. Lucy got her name from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which was played repeatedly on the evening of the day of the discovery when the finds were catalogued at the research camp. |
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Special features |
The shape of the pelvis, the hip joint and the bones of the lower limbs indicate an upright, bipedal gait. The fossilised footprints in Laetoli, which document the upright gait of early hominids, are also dated to the same period. The long arms and curved finger bones suggest that Australopithecus afarensis lived both on the ground and in the trees in the savannahs of East Africa. |