September 21, 2006
Lucy's baby
How often do you get to name a new national icon?
The icon is the one on the left. It is the fossilised skull of a three-year-old girl who died about 3.3 million years ago in what is now Dikika in Ethiopia's Afar region. That makes her the oldest toddler ever discovered.
She was unveiled yesterday in a lecture theatre in the basement of the National Museum in Addis Ababa by proud paleontologist Zeresenay Alemseged (the one on the right) who led the team that found most of her skeleton about five years ago.
At the end of his presentation, he turned to the audience of journalists and academics and politicians and asked 'So what shall we name her'.
It seemed to be a genuine request. He hadn't decided and wanted us to make the historic decision there and then. He had a few pointers.
The name had to be as good and universally easy to say as Lucy – the name of what, until yesterday, was Ethiopia's most famous early human remain. (They both date from the same era, making them Australopithecus afarensis.) It had to be the name of a girl. It had to be Ethiopian. And he wanted it to express a sense of peace – earlier he had talked about how he had had to employ armed guards on the dig because of ongoing hostilities in Afar.
That didn't really leave us much to play with. 'Selam' (Amharic for peace) said one of the journalists. The Culture Minister made a quick argument for using the Afar word for peace instead. But after few more impromptu speeches from the floor, it was agreed that 'Selam' would mean peace to most Ethiopians without causing any offence.
So that was that. She was Selam – Ethiopia's latest claim to being the cradle of the human race. It was only then that Dr Zeresenay admitted that Selam was also his wife's name and he was relieved everyone had made the right choice.
He also unveiled an artists' impression of what Selam might have looked like – a sculpture commissioned by National Geographic which will be on the cover of its next issue. He asked us not to take photos of it to respect the magazine's scoop. I'll just say that most of the journalists and hardened academics forgot themselves when he pulled back the cover and a huge 'Ahhh' went round the room.
I caught ETV talk show host Tefera Gedamu taking pictures of the members of the international press pack at the beginning of the press conference. "It's the first positive story they've covered for years," he said.
Noone mentioned the odd fact that Ethiopia's international paleontological fame is based on a theory that its main church denies – that is the theory of evolution. And it is not only the Orthodox Christians. An international broadcaster who happened to be a Muslim explained a few months back how he had to suspend his disbelief whenever he wrote a story about Lucy and her contemporaries. "This evolution stuff is nonsense. But I write it because that is what the news desk wants."
Posted by aheavens at September 21, 2006 5:19 AM
Comments
I am christian but, I can see that there is some truth to the theory of evolution as well. What (I think )we should not forget is - the theory is just what it is - a theory and evolutionists should stop taking it as though it was an alternative to religion. To me that theory doesn't contradict the bible's explanation of how the world came to be. Theories change over time. So far though they seem to be doing a good job of filling the gaps of knowledge. I just believe God left it for us to discover these things ( may be to keep us busy!Imagine God started to explain about cells and all that stuff. How big would the Bible be?) In some places we find gold, in others diamonds, petroleum, fossils and some times we put two and two together and create an aeroplane... and like little kids who discover easter eggs, our joy and sense of pride will be immense and forget who placed it there in the first place( ... A day in the eyes of God could be a thousand...). I believe both religionists and evolutionists (DOGMATISTS) should realise that not every thing is pure black or white.
Posted by: tom at September 21, 2006 2:35 PM
Selam is not Lucy's Child, more like a great, great ... "grandmother". Selam is about 100,000 years older than Lucy.
Posted by: Hen at September 21, 2006 5:10 PM
Why are the rest of the world media including the BBC addressing 'Selam' as 'Lucy baby' then?
Posted by: AbaKoster at September 22, 2006 3:34 AM
Maybe because Selam was an todler when she perished and so she couldn't realy be Lucy's Great, great...grandmother. And maybe the headline Lucy's Baby sounds better than one of Lucy's great, great,.... Aunt. And maybe the reporters just didn't do their homework. (Paleantology is a hobby of mine so I read their paper.)
Posted by: hen at September 22, 2006 5:03 PM
For heaven's sake, it's just a cute headline
Posted by: andrew at September 23, 2006 1:08 AM
I am very happy my brother Zeresenay Alemseged has found Lucy's baby. She was found in my home the Afar region. Zeresenay is a good man and well respected Ethiopian. This is a chance to learn more about where we all came from. Thank you brother
Posted by: Tesfaye Meles Johanson at September 27, 2006 10:49 PM
Micro evolution does occur, better called adaptation. Macro evolution is just a theory that doesn't hold water. Missing link right? Why are there still apes? The skull looks to me like an ape anyway. Ethiopians hold tight to God, a blessed nation from creation-Haile Selassie wouldn't have it. Praise Yahweh-Get back Satan!!!!!
Posted by: troy at November 5, 2006 1:58 AM
You know its posted to the rest of the world that Lucy's Baby is Salem! I guess you better believe what it says!
Posted by: Carrie at December 19, 2006 1:38 AM
I relly like this page about lucys baby and it was really interesting but I have a question.
Why that chid is called lucys baby if that child is from 3.3 million years ago and lucy is 3.2 million years ago?
Posted by: Alejandra! at September 17, 2008 3:29 AM