--- description: New research indicates that a mysterious skeleton dubbed Little Foot lived around the time of Lucy's species. title: Human Ancestor ‘Little Foot’ Lived 3.7 Million Years Ago image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25012966bf90e01b/698786b45f570ffb45b1619a/little-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Archaeology](/tag/archaeology/) ## Archaeology Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Human Ancestor ‘Little Foot’ Lived 3.7 Million Years Ago ## Video: TIME Explains: Could We Be Aliens? [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: Could We Be Aliens?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/klUn8B3a.m3u8) (2:48)  _Published 2012-10-12. TIME explains the tantalizing evidence that suggests life on Earth may have been seeded from other planets_  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 4, 2015 3:28 PM CUT  The Little Foot skull is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters April 1, 2015. The Little Foot skull is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters April 1, 2015.Reuters  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 4, 2015 3:28 PM CUT New research indicates that a mysterious skeleton dubbed “Little Foot” [lived around the same time as human ancestor Lucy’s](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14268.html "undefined") species, suggesting a diverse landscape of pre-humans in Africa during the same period. Scientists initially believed that Little Foot was far older than Lucy’s species, but according to research published in the journal _Nature_ this week the skeleton is roughly 3.7 million years old. Lucy, who lived about 3.2 million years ago, was an _Australopithecus afarensis_, a species of early upright walkers in east Africa that lived between 2.9 and 4.1 million years ago and is believed to be a direct human ancestor, predating the Homo lineage by more than a million years. Scientists aren’t clear how to categorize Little Foot, who was found in a cave in South Africa in the 1990s. But the age of the skeleton helps shed light on the diversity of the _Australopithecus_ human ancestors. “The most important implication from dating Little Foot is that we now know that australopithecines were in South Africa early in their evolution,” lead author Darryl Granger, a geochronologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, [told Live Science](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/famed-human-ancestor-lucy-wasnt-alone-meet-little-foot/ "undefined"). “This implies an evolutionary connection between South Africa and East Africa prior to the age of Little Foot, and with enough time for the australopithecine species to diverge.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/"},"headline":"Human Ancestor ‘Little Foot’ Lived 3.7 Million Years Ago","datePublished":"2015-04-04T15:28:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:42:15.707Z","description":"The findings shed light on the connections between early human ancestors","url":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/","keywords":["Archaeology","Africa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25012966bf90e01b/698786b45f570ffb45b1619a/little-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25012966bf90e01b/698786b45f570ffb45b1619a/little-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Undated handout photo shows the Little Foot skull","caption":"Undated handout photo shows the Little Foot skull","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/archaeology/","name":"Archaeology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/","name":"Human Ancestor ‘Little Foot’ Lived 3.7 Million Years Ago"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: Could We Be Aliens?","description":"TIME explains the tantalizing evidence that suggests life on Earth may have been seeded from other planets","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/klUn8B3a/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-10-12T21:29:25.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/klUn8B3a.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/","duration":"PT2M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3771452/human-ancestor-little-foot/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```