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Hominid Species Timeline > 
The main Hominid species (apes, humans) and their approximate relationships in time.
Australopithicus afarensis is a recently discovered Hominid species which lived in north east Africa, in the Hadar region of Ethiopia). Until 1995, this species was the earliest known member of the Hominid family. Australopithicus afarensis lived from approximately 4 to 2.7 million years ago along the northern Rift valley of east Africa, and perhaps even earlier.
Fragments of more than 300 individuals of Australopithicus afarensis have been discovered so far, including a remarkably complete skeleton of an adult female nick- named "Lucy" shown. "Lucy" was found in 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia. Her skeleton has provided a wealth of information about the ancestral line of human beings, some of it quite surprising. She was only about 3 feet, 8 inches tall. Males were somewhat taller and twice as robust.
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