Replica of a partial skeleton of an upright-walking, extinct humanoid named Lucy.
Between 1973 and 1977, many fossils were discovered in Ethiopia, in the Hadar region of the Afar Triangle, including a relatively complete skeleton of a female nicknamed Lucy. In 1974, Lucy was the most complete known skeleton of a humanoid with a geological age of nearly 4 million years. Analysis of the skeleton revealed that this early humanoid walked fully upright. The jaws showed that the canine teeth were relatively small, unlike the dangerously large canines of ape-like species. Lucy was a small individual, approximately 110 centimeters tall, but some male individuals appear to have reached heights of over one and a half meters.
The nickname Lucy for this spectacular find derives from a Beatles hit, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which was frequently heard by the excavators during the 1974 excavation of the partial skeleton. The skeleton has played a major role in the study of human ancestry and has become world-famous.