Our understanding of human ancestry has changed dramatically since the discovery of Lucy the ancient hominin 50 years ago.

Fifty years ago, the discovery of a human ancestor "Lucy" generated worldwide attention. NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged about the legacy of the discovery.

Paleoanthropologists have learned a lot about Lucy, the world’s most famous hominin fossil, since she was discovered in 1974.

The 3.2-million-year-old fossil, discovered 50 years ago, is considered to be one of the most significant early hominin ...

A collection of 3-million-year-old bones unearthed 50 years ago in Ethiopia changed our understanding of human origins.

On the anniversary of Lucy’s discovery, paleoanthropologists reflect on what she means to science, and what she taught us ...

Arizona State Professor Donald Johanson discovered the Lucy fossil skeleton—dated at over 3 million years old—in Ethiopia 50 ...

She was, for a while, the oldest known member of the human family."The impact of the discovery was very big in the discipline ...

Fifty years after a fossil skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis was unearthed in Ethiopia, we know so much more about how ...

Lucy lived in a wide range of habitats from northern Ethiopia to northern Kenya. Researchers now believe she wasn't the only ...

Perhaps most importantly, Lucy’s discovery foreshadowed a series of fossil finds that filled in the scientific picture of her species. By 1978, enough evidence had accumulated to establish Lucy as the ...