Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Lucy fossil not coming to Smithsonian
Further to today's earlier post "Famed 'Lucy' Fossil to Tour U.S. for 6 Years" (appended below), an update from AP Wire:
"Washington - The famous fossil of Lucy is scheduled to tour the United States, but one place it won't be on display is the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
'Not only is it not going to come to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, it is our position that we don't think it should leave Ethiopia,' museum spokesman Randall Kremer said Wednesday.
Smithsonian scientists feel certain objects, such as Lucy, are too valuable to travel and should remain in their homes, he said."
Continued at "Lucy fossil not coming to Smithsonian"
Famed 'Lucy' Fossil to Tour U.S. for 6 Years
From The Washington Post: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - One of the world's most famous fossils - the 3.2 million-year-old Lucy skeleton unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974 - will go on display for the first time in the United States next year, and is likely to make a stop at the Smithsonian.
Even the Ethiopian public has seen Lucy only twice. The Lucy exhibition at the Ethiopian Natural History Museum in the capital, Addis Ababa, is a reproduction; the real remains are usually locked in a vault. A team from the Museum of Natural Science in Houston spent four years negotiating the U.S. tour, which will start in Houston next September.
...The six-year tour will stop in Houston until August 2008. It is likely to come to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History afterward. No contract has been signed with the Smithsonian and exact dates have not been set. Officials said six other U.S. cities may be on the tour, but they would not release the names, saying all the details had not yet been ironed out.
Traveling with Lucy will be 190 other fossils, artifacts and relics. [Australopithecus afarensis]
Continued at "Famed 'Lucy' Fossil to Tour U.S. for 6 Years"
Donald Johanson, who along with Tom Gray discovered 'Lucy' in 1974 at Hadar in Ethiopia, has published "Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind" (Amazon UK | US)
Books on Human Origins from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US
Also reported by the Washington Post in "Smithsonian Refuses To Exhibit Ethiopia's Fragile 'Lucy' Fossil"
Technorati: washington post, addis ababa, ethiopia, world, famous, fossils, 1974, united states, smithsonian, lucy, exhibition, ethiopian, natural, history, museum, reproduction, vault, science, houston, national, u.s., tour, artifacts, relics, fossil, donald, johanson, hadar, beginnings, humankind, origins, science, evolution, bookshop, australopithecus, afarensis, selam, child
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