“Lucy” Fossil travels to New York City

The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia will open in Times Square on June 24. The icon of paleoanthropology— the famous 3.2 million-year-old hominid known as Lucy — will be on display through Oct. 25, 2009.

“Recent scientific research conducted on Lucy illustrates that she still has stories to tell,” said Dirk Van Tuerenhout, curator of anthropology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. “Even though she lived more than 3 million years ago, Lucy continues to give us clues about what it means to be a human.”

With 40 percent of her skeleton intact, Lucy remains the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor retrieved from African soil. Other important paleoanthropological discoveries will also be represented including an overview of known fossils discovered in Africa, Asia and Europe which completes the current account of human evolution as it is known to scientists today, setting the stage for a more in-depth presentation of the importance of Ethiopia’s fossil record. 

Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia opens at Discovery Times Square Exposition™, a new state-of-the-art exhibition in the former printing presses building of The New York Times at 226 West 44th Street.