Complete Skeleton of "Lucy"

Skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis 

This very important find of "Lucy" (AL 288-1) was nicknamed after the Beatles song "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" which was being played loudly and repeatedly in the scientists camp the day of discovery.

The skeleton of a petite individual measures only about 105 cm. It was found on the 30st of november in the year 1974 by Donald Johanson in Hadar/Ethiopia. It most likely belongs to a female Australopithecus afarensis which died around the age of 25. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.

About 20% of the skeletons bones are preserved including partials of femur, humerus, skull, ribs, footbones, spine and pelvis.

The skeleton shows evidence of small skull capacity akin to that of apes and of bipedal upright walk akin to that of humans, providing further evidence that bipedalism preceded increase in brain size in human evolution.

This exrtravagantly produced reproductions consits of about 60 single bones which have been made of Epoxi. 

This elaborately carved reproduction was made from an anatomically trained expert by using the original findings (they are marked with darker colour). The missing bones have been produced carefully and then mount the whole thing as a complete skeleton. Arms, legs and jaws are free movable and can be put into any desired position. The skeleton is on a base with wheels.

The cast has been made of Epoxy, the colours may be a little differend than shown on the pictures. Because of the handcraft every cast is unique.