Lucy to Spend 6 Years Touring USA

To some, it may be a great deal of fuss over a bunch of old bones. However, the government of Ethiopia has agreed to one of the most important educational and spiritual events imaginable. The skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis dubbed “Lucy,” which was discovered in 1974, along with 190 artifacts, will leave her native land in June to spend six years at museums in America.

Even in her homeland of Ethiopia, Lucy is not on display. Plaster casts have been used for years instead, and indeed, she has been shown to the public just twice since she was unearthed. In honor of the successful negotiations between the Ethiopian government and the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas, this journal promises not to say anything nasty about Texas until election day. It is that significant. After stopping in Houston, she’ll be off to Washington, New York, Chicago and Denver. Six more cities have yet to be confirmed.

Ethiopia's minister for culture and tourism, Mahmoud Driri told the BBC, her discovery showed “the true story of Ethiopia being the cradle of human civilisation and the home of all humanity. She will be the only mute ambassador that can talk more than any other ambassador for the time being.” While there are scientists in China who argue against an African genesis, the broad majority of palaeoanthropologists says homo sapiens came from Lucy’s kind in Africa. So, grandma is coming to visit.

Those old enough to remember the King Tut tour may have some idea of just what this loan is going to mean. Financially, Ethiopia will make a pile for its museums. The host cities will get a new tourist attraction for a while. And America gets to look at the family album in a way that hasn’t been possible before now. Just as Tut launched a mild craze for Egyptology, Lucy may spark a fad for the dawn of humankind in impressionable young (and not-so-young) minds.

Naturally, one can expect a few protests from the Bible-thumping crowd, the folks who don’t understand metaphor when they read it – odd, given the role the bones of saints have played in their religious history. And there will be a “disappointment” factor from some who expect a Disney-fied lightshow to go with any museum exhibit. For the rest, though, it is a chance to connect with a small creature that, for a while, was the oldest link to where the species originated. “Spine-tingling” seems a good term for the prospect.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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