A fossilized foot found 15 years ago belonged to enigmatic human relative that lived alongside Lucy, scientists say

On the left are eight foot bones and on the right are the same foot bones over an outline of a gorilla foot.

A mysterious fossilized foot found years ago in Ethiopia belongs to a controversial and enigmatic human relative that lived at the same time as our ancestor "Lucy," a new study finds.

This discovery was years in the making. In 2009, scientists found the 3.4 million-year-old fossil foot that has toes designed for life in the trees. Now, newly discovered fossilized teeth and jaw bones found in the vicinity of the so-called "Burtele foot" suggest that members of Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, lived side by side with another now-extinct human relative, Australopithecus deyiremeda, who lived from around 3.5 million to 3.3 million years ago.