The Lucy skeleton (Australopithecus afarensis) is only about 40 percent complete and lacks a head.
Notes on verification
The ~40% completeness figure is well-corroborated across multiple independent, high-quality sources (museums, academic institutions, major science journalism). The 'lacks a head' claim is slightly imprecise—Lucy has some skull fragments (occipital bone, jaw) but no complete cranium—so it's accurate when interpreted as lacking a complete skull rather than having no skull material at all.
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)