It became known as the ‘First Family’ because it contained fossils from nine adults and four children. afarensis fossils discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1975. This fossil is the type specimen’or official representative of this species. LH 4 – a lower jaw discovered in 1974 by Mary Leakey’s team in Laetoli, Tanzania.The discovery of this fossil encouraged Donald Johanson’s team to return to Hadar where they ultimately found ‘Lucy’ and hundreds of other fossils of this species. When this 3.4 million year old knee was discovered, it was the first fossil to provide evidence that our ancestors that had been walking on two legs for more than three million years. Knee AL 129 1a + 1b discovered in 1973 in Hadar, Ethiopia.She was bipedal which means she could walk on two legs but she probably also spent a lot of time climbing trees in search of food or shelter. Lucy was only about 110 centimetres tall but was a fully grown adult when she died. This song was very popular at the time she was found. She was nicknamed ‘Lucy’ after the song ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’ sung by The Beatles. This relatively complete female skeleton, dated to 3.2 million years old, is the most famous individual from this species. ‘Lucy’ AL 288-1 – a partial skeleton discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson in Hadar, Ethiopia.This species is now represented by several hundred fossils from east Africa. A new species name, Australopithecus afarensis, was therefore created for them in 1978. Fossils discovered at the two sites were found to have very similar features and ages but they did not match the fossils of any species known at that time. The other team led by Mary Leakey, was over 1,500 kilometres away at Laetoli in Tanzania. One team, co-led by Donald Johanson, was working at Hadar in Ethiopia. During the 1970s, two fossil hunting teams began uncovering evidence of ancient human ancestors in east Africa.

Chimpanzee hand bone vs human hand bone