"Lucy" Comes To Texas

In 1974, paleontologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray made a remarkable discovery in the desert of Northeastern Ethiopia. They found the fossilized partial skeleton of a 3 1/2 foot tall female adult, that turned out to be the world's earliest known hominid. The skeleton of a hominid called Australopethicus afarensis was between 3 and 4 million years old.

They called this earliest known ancestor of mankind "Lucy", because the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds happened to be playing on the radio that night. Lucy is generally regarded as one of the most important fossils ever discovered.

Last weekend, Lucy was removed under cover of darkness, and placed on a plane bound for Texas. She is slated to be put on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science from August 31 through April 20. This marks the first time Lucy will be displayed outside of Ethiopia.

The skeleton is very delicate, and many scientists, including those at the Smithsonian Institution, were opposed to Lucy making the trip to the United States. They are afraid the skeletal treasure could be damaged. But the curator at the Houston Museum disagreed. Dirk Van Tuerenhout said, "We will put Lucy on display with the utmost care just as we have put other fragile artifacts on display, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were returned to Israel in the same condition they came to our museum."

I don't doubt the curator. I believe the Houston museum will treat this world treasure with the care it deserves. But I am concerned. As we all know, Texas is a hotbed of creationism. My fear is that some fundie nut-job will try to damage Lucy in the belief that he/she is doing "God's work".

Maybe it's an irrational fear, but I was born in Texas and understand the kind of violent weirdos that some religious sects can produce. I just hope the museum will post adequate security to prevent anything like that. We've already had a popular president assassinated in our state. We certainly don't need to add the destruction of a world treasure.

But fears aside, this is a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you get the chance, you should go to see this wonderful discovery. I usually try to avoid Houston, but I definitely want to get down there for Lucy's visit.

After all, she could well be the mother of all humans -- the real "Eve".