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.

Lucy’s discovery transformed our understanding of human origins. Don Johanson, who unearthed the Australopithecus afarensis remains in 1974, recalls the moment he found the iconic fossil.

The discovery of a Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old skeleton changed our theory of human evolution forever. The discovery is celebrating its 50-year anniversary, continues to capture human imagination.

The reconstructed skeleton of Lucy, found in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974, and Grace Latimer, then age 4, daughter of a research team member. James St. John/Flickr, CC BY In 1974, on a survey in Hadar ...

The 3.2-million-year-old fossil "Lucy" at Addis Ababa's National Museum, Ethiopia, on May 7, 2013. The skeleton was discovered by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson on November 24, 1974.

The lore of Lucy’s discovery On November 24, 1974, Johanson was searching for fossils of ancient human relatives or hominins in an area called Hadar in the Afar region of Ethiopia, when he ...

And in the case of Lucy, the process has been much scrutinized. Moreover, Lucy's hip bone is not the only evidence of her likely upright stature.