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Palaeontologists in Ethiopia and in the United States are alarmed after confirmation the fossilised bones of the world's most famous hominid, dubbed "Lucy", were on their way from Addis Ababa to a museum in Texas for a six-year tour of American cities.
The remains are thought to be between three million and four million years old and are considered a vital clue to the origin of humanity. They were discovered in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia by the US scientist Donald Johanson in 1974.
Since then, they have remained in secure storage in the Natural History Museum in Addis Ababa, although few Ethiopians have ever seen Lucy because most of the time a replica is on display.
Now there is concern that transporting the fossils to the US represents an intolerable risk to their integrity. For its part, the Ethiopian Government has defended the tour as a necessary tool to increase much-needed tourism to the country.
"A fossil like Lucy is so rare and so fragile that it should only be moved out of the country if there is a compelling reason that would benefit the nation in a unique way," said Zeray Alemseged, an Ethiopian palaeontologist, who found the remains of another 3-million-year-old girl, "Selam", seven years ago in the same region.
The fossils are due to go on display first at the Houston Museum of Natural Science at the end of this month.
Adding to the controversy, officials removed the fossils from the Addis Ababa museum and sent them on their way in the dead of night at the weekend.
In Houston, museum officials insisted Lucy would be well cared for.
"We will put Lucy on display with the utmost care just as we have put other fragile artefacts on display, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were returned to Israel in the same condition they came to our museum," Dirk van Tuerenhout said.
- Independent
