What Happened To Lucy? What Our Early Ancestor’s Last Day Tells Us About Our Evolution

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What if you got into a time-machine that landed you in a prehistoric era, where every moment demanded sharp instincts to survive. Among the tall grasses near a shimmering lake, a small, upright figure moved, a unique blend of ape and human traits. This was Lucy, a member of Australopithecus afarensis, unknowingly living her final moments in a world brimming with challenges.

Fast-forward more than 3 million years, her discovery by Donald Johanson and his team during the International Afar Research Expedition transformed our understanding of human origins. Through her fossilised remains, we gain remarkable insights into the life and times of one of our earliest ancestors.

The Discovery Of Our Last Ancestor's Skeleton

The discovery of Lucy, the nearly complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, marked a turning point in understanding human evolution. Unearthed on November 24, 1974, by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray in Hadar, Ethiopia, the fossil represented 40% of her skeleton, making it the most complete ancient human ancestor found at the time.

The team named her after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and the name quickly became iconic. Lucy's discovery reshaped paleoanthropology, offering a glimpse into a time 3.2 million years ago when our ancestors were transitioning between apes and modern humans. Today, Lucy remains the touchstone for studying human evolution, with every new finding still pointing back to her.

What Lucy's Discovery Revealed

Lucy's discovery revealed a lot about how our ancestors might have looked and behaved, and it's clear that, despite some differences, she resembled us more than we might have expected.
"If we saw her coming out of a grocery store today, we would recognize her as upright walking and some kind of human," Johanson remarked, capturing the essence of Lucy's human-like traits.

While Lucy had strong arms and finger bones that suggested she could climb trees, her pelvis and knee structure were unmistakably designed for walking on two legs, a sign of her bipedal nature.

Her small frame, measuring only about 42 inches (1.1 metres) tall and weighing between 60 to 65 pounds (27 to 30 kilograms), was similar in size to a modern-day child around the age of 6 or 7. But despite her youthful appearance, the eruption of her wisdom teeth indicated that she was already in the early stages of adulthood.

"Australopithecus in general was maturing fast," said DeSilva, "and it makes sense if you're on a landscape full of predators." In environments where danger was constant, faster maturation would increase the chances of survival and passing on one's genes.

However, unlike other species, australopithecines developed quickly in terms of body and teeth but took longer to grow their brains, an indication that learning played a significant role in their survival.

Lucy's remains also helped resolve a major debate from the early '70s: Did our larger brains evolve before we started walking upright? The size of her brain, not much bigger than a chimpanzee's, confirmed that our ancestors became bipedal before they developed larger brains.

Analysing How Lucy Lived

Lucy's social life is harder to piece together, given that her skeleton was found alone. However, researchers suggest she likely lived in a mixed-sex group of 15 to 20 individuals, similar to modern chimpanzees.

Though there is no direct proof, Lucy's skeletal maturity implies she could have had a baby. Giving birth through her narrow pelvis would have been challenging, so she may have had help from a primitive "midwife."

If Lucy had a baby, she likely had a partner. Fossils from other A. afarensis, like Kadanuumuu, show males were only slightly larger than females, which suggests more monogamous pairings.

Surviving in a predator-filled world would have required teamwork. "I think they had each other's backs and helped each other out, especially when they were in dangerous situations." DeSilva said.

Kadanuumuu's healed leg fracture provides evidence of this social support. Despite no medical care, the injury healed, showing these primates cared for one another. "How in the world do you survive if not for social assistance?" DeSilva asked. "It's really strong evidence they didn't leave each other for dead."

Photo Credit: Image is AI-generated

Lucy's Challenging Lifestyle

The final moments of our early ancestors remain a subject of much debate. What we do know is that Lucy's day likely began in a treetop nest, surrounded by her group, before setting off in search of food.

Lucy's diet was likely varied, ranging from grasses and roots to insects. Her tooth enamel even suggests she might have snacked on eggs, adding some protein to her day. If fortune favoured her, she could have scavenged from a recently deceased mammal, such as an antelope, sharing the spoils with her companions.

"They can't afford to be picky eaters as these slow bipeds in a dangerous environment," DeSilva said.
While Lucy's diet paints a vivid picture of survival, there's no evidence that she or her kind used fire to cook their food. Instead, it was the raw essentials of survival that shaped their days.

Lucy's Last Moments

Two possible theories explain the circumstances surrounding her death. One suggests an unfortunate encounter with a crocodile while near water. Johanson commented that a sudden strike from a crocodile could have taken her down, noting the vulnerability of small creatures like Lucy to such fast predators.

Alternatively, the injuries to her body led Kappelman and his team to propose a different theory: a fall from a tree. The fractures found on Lucy's skeleton indicate a traumatic event, likely a high-impact fall. "She hit on her feet and then her hands, which meant she was conscious when she hit the ground," Kappelman said. "I don't think she survived very long."

There's also a possibility that Lucy wasn't alone at the time. While there's no concrete evidence to support it, some researchers speculate that her group may have been nearby. If so, they would have likely carried on with their daily routines, as there's no indication that A. afarensis engaged in any specific rituals with their dead.

"Maybe there was some curiosity around it, and then they carried on," said DeSilva. In the absence of hospitals and medical care, survival often depended on the support of the group, as evidenced by the way they would have cared for injured members, such as in the case of the male australopithecine Kadanuumuu.

While we may never know the full details of Lucy's death and may not fully understand how her kind interacted with other hominins, ongoing research continues to shed light on this complex and fascinating chapter in our past.

Her life provides us with a vital glimpse into the early days of human evolution. Thanks to Johanson's 1974 discovery of Lucy and other significant finds, we've gained crucial insights into A. afarensis and early human evolution where Lucy remains one of the most iconic and influential fossils in the study of human origins.