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Ethiopia to Exhibit 'Lucy' Fossil in United States
Science - Reuters ^ | 2004-04-12 | Tsegaye Tadesse

Posted on 04/12/2004 3:15:52 PM PDT by Junior

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia is to allow "Lucy" its world-famous, 3.2-million-year-old skeleton to travel abroad for the first time for an exhibition in the United States that it hopes will encourage more visits by American tourists.

The fossil's discovery in 1974 was a landmark in the history of uncovering the origins of humanity, representing the most complete human-like fossil to have been found until that time.

Lucy, stored in a vault in an Ethiopian museum, and other Ethiopian artifacts including crowns and scepters of ancient monarchs are due to be put on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas in 2006.

"The objective of the exhibition is to promote Ethiopia's tourism potential by revealing to American viewers the country's unmatched historical importance as the cradle of mankind and land of significant archaeological discovery," Ethiopian Commissioner for Tourism Abdullahi Suker told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia, one of the world's poorest countries, is keen to lure more visitors to attractions including archaeological sites, centuries-old churches carved into solid rock and ancient cities like Axum to earn more foreign currency.

Ethiopia's 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea hit tourist earnings, and the country that bills itself as having "13 months of sunshine" due to its unique calendar is hoping more foreign visitors will help fuel a revival.

Ethiopia's national museum in Addis Ababa displays only a replica of Lucy -- named after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by its discoverers -- but the original will be put on display in Texas.

A visiting U.S. delegation led by Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor said the display would help improve tourist flows to Ethiopia, as well as earn up to $7 million in tourist revenue for Houston.

"While the cultural importance of the exhibit cannot be overestimated, there is real economic benefit in bringing Lucy to Texas," he said.

But a leading Ethiopian opposition member of parliament, Beyene Petros, said the government should have launched a promotional campaign to attract more visitors to Ethiopia, rather than allow Lucy to leave the country.

"By sending the country's tourist attraction to a foreign country, our tourism officials are discouraging those who would have wanted to travel here to see Lucy's remains," he said.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: anthropology; crevolist; lucy
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To: LiteKeeper
I'm sorry, but Answers in Genesis is not a scientific site. Indeed, it doesn't "do" science, but merely peruses scientific journals searching for something it can latch onto that might support its views.
21 posted on 04/12/2004 5:12:04 PM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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To: Junior
Who do you think they are more likely to confuse Lucy with-Ann Richards or Molly Ivins?
22 posted on 04/12/2004 6:23:14 PM PDT by RightWingAtheist
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To: RightWingAtheist
Who do you think they are more likely to confuse Lucy with-Ann Richards or Molly Ivins?

A descendant of Lucy appeared recently in a movie: Pic from "Dune".

23 posted on 04/12/2004 6:34:10 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Why yes, that IS a gun in my pocket.)
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To: RightWingAtheist
Madelaine Albright. No, wait. That would be who they'd confuse with a troll doll.
24 posted on 04/12/2004 6:34:13 PM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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To: Junior
I guess we are all entitled to our own opinions - I studied anthropology pretty extensively in graduate school while obtaining my MS degree. My opinion is that evolution is a belief; not science.

Several years after I graduated I ran across the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research and started getting their journals. Call it a hunch but I'm guessing they have no scientific credibility in your opinion although these guys have substantial academic backgrounds and field experience.

Not that I need any scientific evidence (as a christian I walk by faith not by site) but I think their scientific studies are pretty solid based on what I've read.

http://www.creationresearch.org/
http://www.icr.org/

25 posted on 04/12/2004 6:46:08 PM PDT by Down South P.E.
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To: Down South P.E.
The may have entire alphabets after their names, but they don't do science. They pick over others' works like scavengers in a dump, hoping to come across something that might bolster their position, but creation "scientists" do not do original research in any way, shape or form.

They leave that to evolutionists...

26 posted on 04/12/2004 6:57:10 PM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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To: stanz
Why is this going to Houston?

They probably thought it would get stolen in NYC or DC. New York's American Museum of Natural History has about 3 million annual attendance compared to about 2.3 million for Houston's Museum of Natural Science.

27 posted on 04/12/2004 7:16:17 PM PDT by rustbucket
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To: PatrickHenry
Oh, Linda Hunt. I thought you were going to post a picture of Susan Sarandon. :-)
28 posted on 04/12/2004 8:06:05 PM PDT by RightWingAtheist
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To: Junior
The may have entire alphabets after their names, but they don't do science. They pick over others' works like scavengers in a dump, hoping to come across something that might bolster their position, but creation "scientists" do not do original research in any way, shape or form. They leave that to evolutionists...

Very professionally worded and objective of you. Pretty sad this issue eats at you so bad. Must be a pretty big hole in your gut...or heart...kind of like the big holes in evolution. At least there is a solution for the hole in your heart anyway.

I guess you would have the same scolding comments pertaining to the nonevolutionists, nonchristian scientist that disagree with evolution as well; or for that matter anyone who disagreed with your opinion or the so-called experts opinions? You may want to try doing some of your own original research and quit believing everything the so-called experts say. I will go so far as to agree with you though that the so-called "science" of evolution is a dump ( or as the Bible would label it: science falsely so-called).

29 posted on 04/12/2004 8:10:36 PM PDT by Down South P.E.
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To: PatrickHenry
Thanks for the ping!
30 posted on 04/12/2004 10:11:44 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Down South P.E.
The funny thing is, there are whole databases devoted to cataloging & debunking creationists' claims or misquotes. (Talk about a productive research programme! :-)
31 posted on 04/12/2004 11:20:45 PM PDT by jennyp (http://crevo.bestmessageboard.com)
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To: Rate_Determining_Step
Hey honey, you know how you always wanted to visit Texas...?
32 posted on 04/12/2004 11:24:40 PM PDT by jennyp (http://crevo.bestmessageboard.com)
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To: Down South P.E.
No. It doesn't "eat at me" as you put, Dr. Freud. I notice you didn't actually come up with an answer to my statement (that creationists don't do science) but rather attacked my motives in making it. How very liberal of you. One can disagree all one wants with evolution, but until one actually undertakes to experiment and research, one's disagreements are so much vaporware. However, I stand by my remarks that creationists do not do research (at least scientific research -- quote mining seems to be as close to actual research as they dare to get). Take a gander at an earlier thread: Who are the Creation "Scientists?"
33 posted on 04/13/2004 3:31:10 AM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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To: Junior
I used to be a rocket scientist but ever since I got smart I'm a flat-earther.
</creationist mode>
34 posted on 04/13/2004 7:25:14 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Why yes, that IS a gun in my pocket.)
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To: LiteKeeper
I like Answers in Genesis :)
35 posted on 04/13/2004 7:26:29 AM PDT by cyborg (GO CONDI GO!)
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"Come, my pet - there is work to be done! With help from my disciples, we'll soon control the universities, then the elementary schools, media, etc."

"Muhahahahahahaha"

36 posted on 04/13/2004 8:12:31 AM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
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To: Michael_Michaelangelo
Actually, the mascot here at Darwin Central is a finch. It has a sort of sentimental value, doncha know.
37 posted on 04/13/2004 8:18:57 AM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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To: Junior
Actually, the mascot here at Darwin Central is a finch. It has a sort of sentimental value, doncha know.

Why, because it refuses to change?

38 posted on 04/13/2004 8:34:02 AM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
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To: LiteKeeper; Dataman
Refresh my memory: do you know this? If they were to exhibit "Lucy" as she was found, exactly what fragments would they be exhibiting, and how far apart would they have to be exhibited?

Dan
39 posted on 04/13/2004 8:36:46 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: BibChr

Refresh my memory: do you know this? If they were to exhibit "Lucy" as she was found, exactly what fragments would they be exhibiting, and how far apart would they have to be exhibited?

My goodness.  I know the Almighty specifically forbade lying, but evidently that commandment must have been "nailed to the cross" along with all the other prohibitions some Christians find unpleasant.

In regards to the old canard (that's "lie" for you in Rio Linda) that Lucy's knee was found some distance from the rest of the skeleton, you might check out the actual information surrounding this incident:

The claim is not only false, it is clearly shown to be false in Johanson's published writings about "Lucy" (e.g., Johanson and Edey 1981, ch. 7-8) and it has been pointed out repeatedly to its proponents that it is false. Despite this, none of the major proponents of the claim has publicly retracted it. One major proponent has privately agreed that it is false, and a few creationists have agreed to stop repeating it. One minor proponent made a public retraction.

The claim originated with Tom Willis, head of the Creation Science Association for Mid-America, in an article he wrote for the Bible-Science Newsletter (1987). In his article, Willis reported on a lecture by Johanson at the University of Missouri on November 20, 1986. Willis reported that the following exchange occurred during the question-and-answer session which followed Johanson's lecture:

Q. How far away from Lucy did you find the knee?
A. Sixty to seventy meters lower in the strata and two to three kilometers away.

This question was perhaps intended by the questioner to mean "How far away from Lucy did you find Lucy's knee?", but was clearly interpreted by Johanson to mean "How far away from Lucy did you find the 1973 knee joint?" Willis does not recognize the confusion in his article, even though the discoveries of both the original knee joint (1973) and Lucy (1974) are described in detail--including the locations of the finds--in Donald C. Johanson and Maitland E. Edey, Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind (1981) and in the articles in the April 1982 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The creationist misunderstanding would never have occurred had either of these sources been consulted. Johanson's writings have always been clear about the fact that his 1973 knee joint was a separate find from Lucy. All of the bones shown in photographs of Lucy were found at a single location.

But hey, you've been on these threads long enough to have come across this before.  This, of course, makes me wonder why you continue with the old lie that the bones were found in different locations.

40 posted on 04/13/2004 9:06:06 AM PDT by Junior (Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.)
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