ASU exhibit: 3 million years in the making

Arizona State University’s Museum of Anthropology is offering visitors the chance to see a cast of Lucy, the 3.1-million-year-old hominid fossil pivotal to the study of human origins. The cast is part of “Becoming Human: 30 Years of Research and Discovery,” an exhibit celebrating the journey of ASU’s Institute of Human Origins, founded by Don Johanson, discoverer of Lucy.

"The exhibition captures from field to lab, and everything that happens in between," said Judy Newland, museum director. 

Visitors can search for casts of fossil specimens jutting from the ground in a re-creation of the Ethiopian field site where Lucy was discovered. They also may compare the cast of a human skeleton with an actual chimpanzee skeleton or view videos of institute researchers, such as paleoecologist Kaye Reed, discussing their work.

“One thing that makes IHO unique is that a big part of our mission is public outreach; we are firmly committed to the idea that the best people to interpret science for the public are the scientists who actually do the work," said Bill Kimbel, the institute’s director.

The Institute of Human Origins was founded as a non-profit by Johanson in 1981 in Berkeley, Calif. Later, the institute accepted what Kimbel deemed a “wise and embracing” offer to relocate to ASU. Known for its cutting-edge research and first-class outreach programs, the institute has thrived on the Tempe campus since 1997, and in 2005 became a part of ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.