"Lucy's Child" Excavated in Ethiopia

"Dikika Girl": Dated to 3.3 million years before present

Image: BBC.co.uk

The skeleton of a juvenile female Australopithecus afarensis has been excavated in the Dikika region of Ethiopia. The find has been dubbed the "Dikika girl" after the site's location. This species, the same as the skeleton "Lucy" discovered in 1974, has been dated to 3.3 million years before present. Having both an adult and child skeleton will allow scientists to study growth development in this distant ancestor. Australopithecus stood upright, and the species is considered to be an important part of the history of human evolution. The findings were reported in the journal Nature.

--BBC.co.uk has more information