Who is Lucy the Australopithecus? | Facts you might not know | Google Doodle.Five facts you might not know about the oldest hominid ever discovered.
As honoured in today's Google Doodle, 24 November is the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago.
First discovered in 1973, the discovery of Lucy was remarkably 'complete' - 40 per cent of her skeleton was found intact, rather than just a handful of incomplete and damaged fossils that usually make up remains of a similar age.
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Shortly after being dug up, it became apparent that Lucy was one of the most important fossils ever discovered, when researchers released that she belonged to a previously unknown species.
In honour of the momentous moment in archaeology, here's five things you may not know about Lucy.
She was named after The Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'
After making the historic find, paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson headed back to his campsite with his team.
He put a Beatles cassette in the tape player, and when Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds came on, one of the group said he should call the skeleton Lucy.