The Lucy skeleton (Australopithecus afarensis) is about 40 percent complete.
Notes on verification
The ~40% completeness figure is well-corroborated across multiple independent, high-quality sources (museums, academic institutions, major science journalism). Corrected 1 Oct 2026: earlier wording said Lucy "lacks a head"; skull fragments and the lower jaw survive, so that part was removed.
Sources
- 'Little Foot' Fossil Skeleton Rivals Famous Lucy in Age (nationalgeographic.com)
- https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/australopithecus-afarensis-lucy-species.html (nhm.ac.uk)
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fossil-human-ancestor-lucy-remains-pivotal-50-years-after-discovery/ (scientificamerican.com)
- https://iho.asu.edu/aboutLucy (iho.asu.edu)
- https://news.asu.edu/20241022-science-and-technology-crown-jewel-finding-complete-skull-lucy (news.asu.edu)
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/interactive/2024/evolution-fossil-lucy-human-ancestor/ (washingtonpost.com)
- https://www.cmnh.org/learn/science-blog/2024/11/24/a-groundbreaking-discovery-turns-50-celebrating-the-story-of-lucy (cmnh.org)