The mystery of the death of our most famous human ancestor more than 3 million years ago is now solved.

The death of Lucy ( Australopithecus afarensis ), our most famous human ancestor, had been a puzzle. Until now. Supervised by a team of researchers from the University of Texas (USA) has concluded after examining fossils through computerized- tomography procedure that Lucy died at age 20 from injuries sustained after falling from a tree to a great height, the fractures on her bones appearance show comparable to those of people who die precisely because of a fall.

 Image Credit : Donsmaps

According to the verdicts of the research, Lucy would have fallen from a height of over 12 meters, hitting the ground at more than 56 km per hour , plausibly landing with feet first and arms as she was preparing for the imminent fall. Her death was swift.

This extinct hominid lived 3.18 million years ago in what is now the Afar region in Ethiopia (in the Horn of Africa) until her fatal fall happened, the cause of death was never discovered for 20 years: “I showed the evidence to an orthopedic surgeon, who immediately said it is a fracture caused by a fall from considerable height—there was no question at all,” says John Kappelman, who led the research.

 Photo by Marsha Miller, UT Austin

The fossil remains of Lucy, who make up one of the most complete and oldest bipedal human adult prehistoric skeletons were scanned by Tomographic X - ray facility in High Resolution to create a digital archive of more than 35,000 CT scans.

"The procedure is non-destructive. You can see what is inside, the internal details and the arrangement of the bones , " says Richard Ketcham, a co-author at the same institution. "Lucy is valuable. We only have one Lucy and we want to study as much as possible , "he adds.

 Scientists believe, therefore, that Lucy was both terrestrial and arboreal and that because of her small size measuring just over a meter tall and weighed about 27 kg, she gets nourishment and shelter at night up in the trees.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.