DENVER—The Denver Museum of Nature and Science hasn’t decided whether to be a part of an international tour of a 3.2-million-year-old skeleton known as Lucy.
While officials in Ethiopia have said Denver would be one of the stops, museum officials in Denver are still considering the logistics of hosting the exhibit as well as ethical concerns about whether the remains should be put on public exhibit.
Denver museum spokeswoman Laura Holtman said Monday said the exhibit will require more work to set up than most traveling exhibits and officials are also considering the ethical issues that have been raised about exhibiting Lucy.
“We haven’t ruled it out,” Holtman said.
Lucy was flown out of Ethiopia overnight for a tour of the United States. The Smithsonian Institution has objected to the six-year tour because museum experts do not believe the fragile remains should travel.
The remains of the 3 1/2-foot-tall adult of an ape-man species was discovered in 1974 in the remote, desert-like Afar region in the country’s northeastern region.
Even in Ethiopia, the public usually has only gotten to see a replica of the skeleton Ethiopian Natural History Museum. The real remains are usually locked in a vault and have only been on display there twice.
Ethiopian officials have also said the skeleton will visit New York and Chicago. The Field Museum in Chicago is tentatively slated to host the exhibit from November 2009 through April 2010 but no contract has been signed yet.
If Denver does agree to host the exhibit, it won’t be until at least 2009 since next year’s visiting exhibit schedule has already been set, Holtman said.
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