Old beyond her years

September 22, 2006 | Source: Sydney Morning Herald

She is the most ancient child ever discovered and was no more than three years old when she died about 3.3 million years ago.

Unearthed in Ethiopia, she belongs to the primitive human species known as Australopithecus afarensis and has been dubbed Lucy’s daughter, after the iconic fossil of an adult female from the same group discovered in 1974.