Lucy is 3.2 million years old. She’s tiny, a little over 3 feet tall. She’s spent most of her modern life in a secure vault in Ethiopia but she’s been let out to see the world – or to let the world see her. Which is what we did on Sunday on the first ever Nerd’s Eye View field trip.
You don’t get to meet Lucy right away. First, you wander through a gorgeous collection of Ethiopian artifacts that give you some sense of context for Lucy’s homeland. We loved this unexpected part of the exhibit – the items on display are stunners, and it’s a delight to be exposed to a culture so fascinating and a land so exotic. It only took until we reached the second or third room of objects for me to say this: “We need to go to Ethiopia.”
Sidebar: We totally need to go the Ethiopia. Unfortunately, current airfares are hanging out at about 1800 USD for a round trip ticket from Seattle. If we’d like to do a guided tour – I am surprised to find myself thinking that this would be a rather good idea – they start at around 1100 USD. The math is troubling – there are two of us, after all and our desire to travel slow means we need more time. If you’ve traveled Ethiopia independently, I’d love to hear about it, please leave links in the comments. In the meantime, I may have to settle for Ethiopian food at that place on Cherry that’s so delicious. And friendly. And about 25 bucks for two, with beer!
Once you’ve got a picture of the vibrant culture of Ethiopia, you enter the science portion of the exhibit. These rooms are full of stuff to do that teaches you about how fossils are found, how Lucy herself was found, how human skeletons have changed since Lucy’s time… there are things to poke and crank and rotate. First you go to Ethiopia, then you’re an archeologist or geologist.
Next, you walk up the long ramps past fossilized skulls from the historic family of man. you see them change from tiny flattened boxes that have little space for making ideas to broad cheekbones with shelf like brows to the current incarnation, a bone house for the brain that’s shaped just like you and me.
A uniformed police officer waits outside Lucy’s room – she’s very fragile and a long way from home and needs protection. And then, there she is. Her fragile bones are held into place in front of a mirror so you can see how she looks from both sides. A wrap around backlit mural shows the development of mankind from the earliest specimens to modern time. There’s a disturbingly life like replica of what she looked like when she was still alive, bright eyes and long toes, smiling and furry. The little sister of humanity looks over her shoulder at you and you ask yourself what you know about history.
Lucy is on display at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle until March 8th. It’s really worth your time. You should go.
Suddenly, I’m jonesing for njera and some doro tibs….
I visited the Lucy exhibit twice while it was here in Houston this spring. It’s possible that my memory is just failing me, but I do not remember a science portion with things to “poke and crank and rotate.” Too bad! This would have been a really cool addition to the exhibit (or a really cool addition to my memory of it, if that’s all that’s lacking..) Seeing Lucy herself was phenomenal, regardless.
isn’t she amazing….