Lucy
≈ 3.2 million years ago
Early HumanityLucy
A relative who walked upright.
Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis found in Ethiopia in 1974, is one of the most famous fossils in human evolution.
About 40 percent of her skeleton survived, rare for a fossil so old. Her pelvis and legs show upright walking, and her small brain resembled an ape’s.
3.2 million years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.
- Period
- ≈ 3.2 million years ago
- Edition
- 1/1
- Status
- Not Released
Background artwork
Cinematic background showing an early human ancestor at a lake at dusk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figure is imagined and not a portrait of the individual named Lucy.