The well - known Australopithecus
afarensis fossil we call Lucy, for example, lived a little over 3 million years ago in Ethiopia's Afar region, roughly 700 miles northeast of Lake Turkana.
afarensis fossils in eastern Africa, with more than 250 specimens, representing at least 17 individuals, so far known.
Not exact matches
There are many transitional
fossils: reptiles to birds (like Sinosauropteryx, Caudipteryx, Protarchaeopteryx), mammal to whale
fossils (whale
fossils have been found with legs, like Rodhocetus and Basilosaurus), and yes, even ape - to - human
fossils (like Australopithecus
afarensis, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus).
The supposed ancient butchers in question were members of the same species as the famed
fossil Lucy: Australopithecus
afarensis, a hominid that lived in Ethiopia's Afar region between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago.
Fossils from A.
afarensis date to between 3.7 and 3 million years ago, so the two species would have overlapped (though Lucy herself may have lived too recently to see one).
Furthermore, these ancient butchers were not members of our own genus, Homo, but the more primitive Australopithecus, specifically A.
afarensis, the species to which the celebrated Lucy
fossil belongs.
The body dimensions used in the model — 30 kg for females, 55 kg for males — were based on a group of early human ancestors, or hominins, such as Australopithicus
afarensis, the species that includes the famous Ethiopian
fossil «Lucy.»
They identified one as a canine with a striking resemblance to the teeth of Australopithecus
afarensis, a hominin that lived in Africa around 3 million years ago and gave us the famed «Lucy»
fossil.
Ardi's hip arrangement doesn't appear in two later
fossil hominids, including the famous partial skeleton known as Lucy, a 3.2 - million - year - old Australopithecus
afarensis.
Fossils of a new species of Australopithecus have been found near the site of Lucy's species, Australopithecus
afarensis, suggesting the two species interacted
The only hominin
fossil remains in the area dating to that time are from Australopithecus
afarensis.
This includes Australopithecus
afarensis, which appears in the
fossil record a million years before the first evidence of stone tools.
The species of the famous Lucy
fossil, Australopithecus
afarensis, had skulls with internal volumes of between 400 and 550 milliliters, whereas chimpanzee skulls hold around 400 ml and gorillas between 500 and 700 ml.
University of Arkansas anthropologist Mike Plavcan recently reexamined
fossils of one of our earliest bipedal ancestors, the 4 million - year - old Australopithecus
afarensis, and found hominids may not have been as marriage minded as previously thought.
Since Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia's Afar region in 1974, researchers have uncovered many more
fossils assigned to her species, Australopithecus
afarensis, and dated to between 3.7 million and 3.0 million years ago.
Laetoli is already famous for its Site G
fossil footprints of (presumably) Australopithecus
afarensis individuals.
(See the story «Hobbit Symposium Held», below) Although given the genus name Homo, the
fossils found a few years ago in Indonesia exhibit many traits, especially in the hands and feet, of much earlier members of the hominin lineage, particularly Australopithecus
afarensis, which lived three million years ago and is not thought to have migrated out of Africa.
The skeletal material was found in sandstone in the Woronso - Mille paleontological study area that lies some three dozen miles north of Hadar, the fossiliferous site that has yielded since 1973, the most
fossils from a single site attributed to a single species, Australopithecus
afarensis, the same species designation claimed for Kadanuumuu.
Since 1973, the fieldwork at Hadar has produced more than 370
fossil specimens of Australopithecus
afarensis between 3.4 and 3.0 million years ago — one of the largest collections of a single
fossil hominin species in Africa — as well as one of the earliest known
fossils of Homo and abundant Oldowan stone tools (ca. 2.3 million).
On November 24, 1974,
fossils of one of the oldest known human ancestors, an Australopithecus
afarensis specimen nicknamed «Lucy,» were discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia.
The most famous
fossil to be discovered from the Australopithecus
afarensis species is a 3.2 million year - old partial skeleton named Lucy, a female hominin discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.
Scientists now have about 400
fossils from her species, Australopithecus
afarensis (AF - ar - EN - sis).