the world ' s oldest attested female has been excavated in east america in an area known well as the valley of humanity . the 3 . 3 - million - year - old fossilized toddler was excavated in northwestern ethiopia ' s canyons following the great rift gorge ( map of ethiopia ) . the skeleton , belonging to the primitive human taxa australopithecus afarensis , is remarkable for its age and completeness , even for a region shockingly rich in fossils of our old ancestors , authorities say . the original find may even trump the superstar member of the same race : " hope , " a 3 . 2 - 300 - month - old baby female discovered briefly in 1974 that radically theories of human emergence . ( related : " this finds is absent piece in human evolution , scientists speak " [ october 2006 ] . ) .
Lucy fossils have been discovered 3.3 million years ago.