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.

Explore key historical events from Nov. 24-30: from JFK's assassin being shot on live TV, to the mysterious D.B. Cooper ...

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 ...

Lucy was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia and when she was found 50 years ago, she was the oldest known human specimen in existence. The remains of the proto-human are 3.18-million-year-old and they ...

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 ...

Yohannes Haile-Selassie is responsible for some of the most remarkable ancient human fossil discoveries in his home country.

She was, for a while, the oldest known member of the human family. Fifty years after the discovery of Lucy in Ethiopia, the ...

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