Lucy, Ida fossils headline New York City exhibit

It has been 35 years since Don Johanson, a professor of paleoanthropology in Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change, discovered “Lucy” in Hadar, Ethiopia. The major find, a 3.2 million-year-old hominid fossil, sent shockwaves through the scientific community and spurred a flurry of global attention. In the years since, Lucy has remained a major player in the continuing quest to understand human origins and evolution.  

Now, another significant fossil find has joined the evolutionary pantheon. Introduced earlier this year by Jørn H. Hurum of the Oslo University Natural History Museum, “Ida” is a remarkably preserved 47 million-year-old female mammal that is making international headlines, much as Lucy did over three decades ago.

Considered the oldest, most complete primate fossil, Ida – with opposable thumbs, forward-facing eyes and big toes – is a crucial tool for investigating the earliest phases of primate evolution. The near-pristine condition of the fossil makes it particularly useful. Ida's remains were entombed in sedimentary layers that split into two rock plates, each containing portions of the body structure. Plate A shows Ida’s hands, feet and tail, and Plate B includes Ida’s teeth, jaws and even stomach contents.

Clearly, Lucy and Ida have much in common. They are icons of evolution, sources of academic debate, well-preserved shoots on humankind’s family tree. And soon they will be costars of a sort.

The authentic Lucy and Ida (Plate B) fossils will share the stage in the upcoming “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia,” a major exhibit arriving June 24 at the new Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City. This will be the first public viewing of Ida (Plate B); Ida (Plate A) is currently displayed in the Oslo University Natural History Museum.

Lucy, who is normally housed in a specially constructed safe in the Paleoanthropology Laboratories of the National Museum of Ethiopia, is on a North American Tour that previously stopped at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. A cast of Lucy’s bones are on permanent exhibit at ASU’s Institute of Human Origins in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Don Johanson is the institute’s founding director.

“Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia” will run through October 25, 2009.