Item 1 of 3 An illustration of two of the seven molars from Australopithecus, unearthed in South Africa, that were sampled in new research exploring the diet of this important ancient human ancestor.

Australopithecus afarensis, an ancient human ancestor who lived around 3 million years ago, spent most of its time walking, instead of climbing trees like chimps.

Inside the mind of the Dikika child. To study the shape and growth of the Australopithecus afarensis brain the researchers CT scanned the fossil skull of the Dikika child, a 3.32 million-year-old ...

Named after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” the 3.2 million-year-old remains belong to the Australopithecus afarensis family, a species that shares both human and ape ...

Australopithecus afarensis may have walked upright and looked somewhat human-like, but they were much smaller than we are. Lucy died as a young but fully grown adult, and stood only 1.1m (3.7ft ...

One of the most famous fossils in human evolutionary history is known as "Lucy," who belonged to an extinct species called Australopithecus afarensis—an early relative of Homo sapiens who was ...

Australopithecus afarensis. dpo_3d_200040 NMNHANTHRO NMNH - Anthropology Dept. CC0 Discover More Hominin Fossils arrow-up Back to top. Sign up for Smithsonian e-news arrow-right Close. Facebook ...

But it turns out her species, Australopithecus afarensis, wasn't alone. In fact, as many as four other kinds of proto-humans ...

And her remarkable species, Australopithecus afarensis, may have been our direct ancestor. Our discoveries about Lucy have transformed our understanding of humanity's tangled family tree.

Ancient human relatives ran on two legs, like modern humans, but at a much slower pace, suggest 3D computer simulations of Australopithecus afarensis 1 — a small hominin that lived more than ...