This lifelike reproduction of Lucy, created by renowned paleo artist John Gurche, is now on display in the Museum’s Visitor Hall.
Among the iconic specimens featured in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Visitor Hall, there are creatures that could fly, those that walked on four legs, and even those that could swim. But perhaps one of the most world-famous specimens is Lucy, who walked on two legs just like us.
Fifty years ago today, on November 24, 1974, Lucy—the first identified individual from the species now known as Australopithecus afarensis—was discovered in Ethiopia. The team that discovered her was co-led by Dr. Donald Johanson, a paleoanthropologist, the Museum's former Curator of Physical Anthropology, and a current Museum Research Associate.
Astoundingly, Dr. Johanson and his team found about 40% of Lucy’s skeleton and later determined her fossils to be approximately 3.2 million years old. At the time, this made Lucy both the oldest and most complete early human ancestor or relative ever found.
“Lucy’s discovery came at a very important moment in paleoanthropology, when there was beginning to be greater public awareness that Africa is the cradle of humankind,” says Dr. Ebeth Sawchuk, Associate Curator of Human Evolution. “Lucy was one of the biggest discoveries of the time and was critical for establishing funding for this area of science moving forward. Her fossils galvanized the world’s interest in human origins.”
This discovery also contributed significantly to our understanding of “hominins”—a group that includes us and numerous other humanlike primates who walked on two legs. Today, even older hominins have been discovered, going back about 7 million years—but Lucy remains an icon, and pivotal in our quest to understand human origins. For example, Lucy’s fossils confirmed that hominins were bipedal (could walk on two legs) before the development of large brains.
“Lucy provided evidence that the transition to bipedalism happened early in our evolution, and that hominins were fully bipedal over 3 million years ago,” says Dr. Emma Finestone, Associate Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins. “Walking upright on two legs was a key adaptation for defining humans and our family members—although early hominins, like Lucy, might have engaged in a good amount of climbing too.”
We know that Lucy was bipedal through the use of comparative anatomy, which shows that her hips and femurs more closely resemble those of humans than those of chimpanzees. In humans, the femur is angled from the hip toward the knee, known as the “bicondylar angle,” helping us to balance while walking upright. The femurs of chimpanzees, in comparison, are straighter. Lucy is also notable for her small stature, standing at just 3.5 feet tall.
After Lucy’s discovery, her fossils were returned to Ethiopia, where they are currently kept at the National Museum in Addis Ababa. However, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s collection includes the first casts ever made from Lucy’s fossils, which were created in-house at the Museum. These typecasts are significant because, in addition to being irreplaceable, they have been used to generate most other existing casts of Lucy’s fossils—and are the closest thing you can get to the real fossils. The Museum's collection also includes the lifelike reconstruction of Lucy on display in the Visitor Hall. This sculpture was created by renowned paleo artist John Gurche, and offers both a scientific and artistic interpretation of how Lucy may have appeared in life.
Visitors who are interested in Lucy’s story and the study of human origins will have plenty more to discover when the Museum’s transformation is complete this December. Casts of Australopithecus afarensis fossils will be on display in the Museum’s new Evolving Life Wing, where you will be able to explore human origins and learn how humans are products of the same evolutionary processes that shape all life on Earth.
“In the Evolving Life Wing, we will connect humans to their evolutionary history and hominin relatives, contextualizing humans in the story of natural history,” says Dr. Finestone. “Lucy is a big feature of that. Her casts will be used to illustrate bipedalism in fossil hominins, humans, and comparatively with quadrupedal primates.”
Visitors pause for a photograph in front of Lucy's exhibit in the Museum's Visitor Hall.
In addition to all that Lucy can tell us about human origins, many visitors wonder about the origins of her name. The name came about when, the night after discovering Lucy, Dr. Johanson and his team celebrated their find to the Beatles song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” At some point, they began referring to the hominin as “Lucy”—and the name stuck. But Lucy isn’t the only name that has been given to this individual. Lucy’s Ethiopian name is Dinkinesh, which translates to “you are marvelous.”
As we celebrate the anniversary of this groundbreaking discovery, be sure to stop by and pay a visit to the marvelous Lucy in the Visitor Hall. You can currently see her lifelike reproduction alongside the special exhibit, Celebrating Lucy: 50 Years After Her Discovery, open until March 16, 2025. Through photographs, specimens, casts, and more, this exhibit tells the astonishing story of Lucy’s discovery, explores how she fits into the human family tree, and reveals how she continues to inform our understanding of what makes us human. And be sure to visit her hominin relatives in the new Evolving Life Wing—set to open during our Grand Opening Weekend from December 13–15.
Lucy's Visitor Hall exhibit is sponsored by Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz.
