AL 129-1
- Date
- 1973 · confidence high
- Place
- Hadar, Afar Region, Ethiopia
- Credited to
- Donald Johanson
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Fossilized knee joint of Australopithecus afarensis found by Donald Johanson at Hadar, Ethiopia, in November 1973, dated to about 3.4 million years; its elliptical lateral condyle and oblique femoral angle provided some of the earliest skeletal evidence of bipedalism in this hominin.
What it led to
- Early confirmation of bipedalism in Australopithecus afarensis
- Discovery of Lucy the following year at the same site
- Establishment of Hadar as a key site for human evolution