She was only about three years old when she died of unknown causes some three million years ago, but Dikika baby is the oldest human ancestor infant ever found and the most complete Australopithecus afarensis fossil ever preserved. Most significant to scientists, she shows the first signs toward a modern pattern of human brain development. Dikika baby was discovered in December 2000 in the Dikika region of Ethiopia, about six miles (ten kilometers) from the site where Lucy—the famous female skeleton of the same species—was found. National Geographic senior editor Chris Sloan tells you her story.
