More than five decades after her discovery, Lucy remains one of the most important finds in human evolutionary science. Unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, the 3.2-million-year-old fossil has long been central to how scientists understand early bipedalism, growth and adaptation. What is striking today is how much Lucy has taught us, and how much she continues to reveal.
The fossil has been a guest at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, where she is on display for a limited period as part of the museum’s opening programme. Lucy will remain in the UAE until March 23, after which she will return to Ethiopia, making her appearance here a rare and time-limited opportunity. For both scientists and curators, her arrival is less about spectacle and more about science in motion.
During a visit to Abu Dhabi, American palaeoanthropologist Donald Johanson, who co-discovered Lucy, tells The National that research into her species has never stood still. While Lucy herself has not undergone every analytical technique now available, advances in scanning and imaging have continued to reshape our understanding of Australopithecus afarensis primates.
“New scanning technologies have allowed us to understand how old some specimens were when they died,” Johanson explains. In one case, the teeth of an infant from Lucy’s species were scanned to determine age at death with remarkable precision. Because dental enamel is laid down daily, researchers were able to calculate exactly how many days the child lived after birth.
These methods have helped clarify broader biological patterns, including lifespan and development. Based on tooth wear across multiple specimens, Johanson estimates that individuals of Lucy’s species likely lived to about 30 years on average. Lucy herself is believed to have died when she was about 12, an age that can appear deceptively young by modern standards.
“She matured much more quickly than modern humans,” Johanson says. In contrast to today’s prolonged adolescence, early hominins reached physical maturity earlier, shaped by a far more dangerous environment. Infection, injury or disease could be fatal. Even so, comparisons with modern primates suggest that group living may have offered some protection, allowing certain individuals to live considerably longer.
What has particularly intrigued researchers in recent years is evidence that Lucy’s species may have had a slightly prolonged childhood compared to other primates. Reconstructions of brain size and dental development indicate that brain growth may have continued after birth, hinting at an evolutionary shift towards extended learning and social dependence. “That’s something we don’t see in other primates,” Johanson notes.
These insights underscore why Lucy remains scientifically important. She no longer represents the oldest known human ancestor, but she occupies what Johanson describes as a pivotal place on the human family tree. Evidence of upright walking now stretches back nearly six million years, yet Lucy sits at a crossroads in evolutionary history, a moment shaped by major climatic change and diversification.
Her relevance extends beyond East Africa. At the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, Lucy is positioned in dialogue with local fossils dating back seven million years, a curatorial choice that highlights shared ecological and migratory histories between Africa and Arabia.
Peter Kjaergaard, director of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, says that Lucy’s presence reinforces a broader narrative about connection rather than isolation. “Using natural history specimens as ambassadors connects countries, communities and people,” he says.
Bringing Lucy to Abu Dhabi was anything but a routine loan. Johanson emphasises that Lucy remains the property of the Ethiopian government and that it is rare for her to travel. The decision was taken at ministerial level, reflecting a high degree of trust between institutions. Johanson himself had no role in authorising the move.
For him, the value of such a visit lies in reaching audiences who may never have encountered human evolution before, prompting new ways of thinking about humanity’s place in the natural world.
That philosophy has shaped how Lucy is displayed. Rather than elevating the fossil on a pedestal, the museum has chosen to place her on the ground, echoing the circumstances of her original discovery. Visitors enter a dedicated space where Lucy appears much as she did when Johanson first saw her bones emerging from the earth.
The display creates a deliberate contrast between a reconstruction of Lucy standing upright and the original fossil lying on the ground. Light and shadow draw the eye from one to the other, linking scientific interpretation with physical evidence. The aim, Kjaergaard says, is to create a moment of discovery rather than reverence.
Even after half a century of study, Lucy continues to shape debates about diet, growth, mobility and environment. Trace-element analysis has reinforced the view that her species was predominantly vegetarian. Geological and fossil evidence has placed her within a landscape far removed from today’s deserts, one that once supported rivers, forests and an array of animals.
In Abu Dhabi, that deep-time perspective carries particular resonance. Local fossils reveal a region that once shared ecological similarities with East Africa, strengthening the idea that human and animal histories cannot be neatly contained by modern borders.
For Johanson, Lucy’s enduring power lies in her ability to connect science with meaning. “She continues to be an inspiration,” he says, not only for researchers but for anyone willing to consider how humans fit within the natural world.
