The best-known member of Australopithecus is Au. afarensis, a species represented by more than 400 fossil specimens from virtually every region of the hominin skeleton. Dated to between about 3.8 and 2.9 mya, 90 percent of the fossils assigned to Au. afarensis derive from Hadar, a site in Ethiopia’s Afar Triangle. Au. afarensis fossils have also been found in Chad, Kenya, and Tanzania. The main fossil sample of this species also comes from Hadar, and the specimens found there include a 40-percent-complete skeleton of an adult female (“Lucy”) and the remains of at least nine adults and four juveniles buried together at the same time (the “First Family”). The animal fossils found in association with Au. afarensis imply a habitat of woodland with patches of grassland.
The morphology of Au. afarensis is a mosaic of apelike features and humanlike traits shared by later hominins. The face is strongly prognathic, and the anatomy of the snout is quite apelike. Certain details of the dentition (the arrangement of the teeth) are reminiscent of apes, and the dental arch—that is, the curve of the row of teeth in each jaw—is apelike. (The dental arch of Au. afarensis is rectangular in outline, and thus it is distinct from the parabolic dental arch found in modern humans.) The cranial capacity of Au. afarensis ranges from 380–530 cc (23.2–32.3 cubic inches), about one-third the size of that of a modern human. In addition, numerous anatomical details in the mandible and skull are indicative of an apelike ancestry and suppport the distinction of Au. afarensis from other species of Australopithecus.
Other morphological characteristics in Au. afarensis are commensurate with a terrestrial, striding, bipedal gait. The pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle exhibit, in many details, an anatomy and function very similar to that observed in modern humans. The curved finger and toe bones are likely evolutionary remnants left over from an apelike ancestor. While the upper limb is relatively long compared with the length of the lower limb, the spine exhibits humanlike curvatures, and the foot has a convergent great toe and strong arches as shown in modern humans.
Sexual dimorphism—that is, the differences in appearance between males and females—was marked in Au. afarensis. Males weighed 45–68 kg (99–150 pounds) compared with 30 kg (66 pounds) for females. Males stood about 151 cm (roughly 5 feet) tall, whereas females were about 105 cm (about 3 feet 5 inches) tall. Significant sexual dimorphism is typical of early hominin species. Another example is “Ardi,” a skeleton of Ar. ramidus assigned to a female that weighed 110 pounds (50 kg), standing 122 cm (roughly 4 feet) tall; males must have been taller and relatively very large.
Hominin fossils (which included an immature partial skeleton, jaws, and teeth) discovered at the northern Tanzanian site of Laetoli, dating to approximately 3.6 mya, are among the most ancient examples of Au. afarensis. Investigation at Laetoli unveiled a layer of volcanic ash that preserved thousands of animal footprints. Amazingly, two Au. afarensis individuals left a 24.4-metre- (80-foot-) long trail of their own footprints frozen in time. These footprints were made by an arched foot that possessed a forward-pointing great toe, a strong heel strike, and powerful toe-off (that is, where the toes leave the ground during a step)—all of which are hallmarks of human bipedalism.
In 1995 a mandible resembling that of Au. afarensis came to light from a site near Koro Toro in northern Chad. It is 3.5 million years old and was assigned to a new species, Au. bahrelghazali. Most of its anatomical features are identical to those of Au. afarensis, however. The discovery of Au. bahrelghazali extends the geographic range of Australopithecus some 2,500 km (1,500 miles) west of Africa’s Great Rift Valley (see East African Rift System).
A curious cranium discovered in 1997 at Bouri in the Afar region of Ethiopia was placed in the species Au. garhi (2.5 mya). The species takes its name, garhi, from the Afar word for surprise. The specimen possessed a number of traits in common with Au. afarensis, most notably the prognathic face, but the cheek teeth were significantly larger than any assigned to Au. afarensis. Another feature of the Bouri specimen was a crest running along the midline of the braincase, the sagittal crest. The combination of the large teeth, large jaw, and sagittal crest—which are all features of the robusts—and the ancestral anatomy of Au. afarensis suggest that Au. garhi descended from Au. afarensis and that it evolved in the direction of the robust Australopiths.
A partial skeleton was found some 300 meters (984 feet) away, but it could not be associated with the cranium. Stone tools and cut-marked animal bones lay nearby also, however, their association with the cranium could not be confirmed.