Footprints and skeleton of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis). The fossilised bones of the A. afarensis specimen known as Lucy are superimposed over footprints made by the same species. A. afarensis was a bipedal humanlike primate (hominid) that lived in Africa 3.93 million years ago. Lucys skeleton was found in Ethiopia in 1974 and is thought to be 3.3 million years old. The footprints are from the Laetoli site in Tanzania, where a line of A. afarensis footprints are preserved in volvanic ash. They were discovered in 1976.