Two major fossils of human evolution are exposed to Prague until October, marking an unprecedented event for the European public. The skeleton fossilized of Australopitheque Lucy is presented at the National Museum of Prague from August 25 to October 23, 2025 as part of the exhibition “Men and their ancestors”. This is the first time that the specimen has been exposed in Europe.
Lucy is presented alongside other fossils retracing human lines over almost seven million years. Michael Lukeš, Museum Director is moved by it: “The arrival of Lucy and Selam in Prague is a dream come true for the National Museum and for me personally – and undoubtedly one of the most significant moments in our history”.
It is accompanied by Selam, an Australopitheque discovered in 2000 in the same region. This two and a half year old fossil, older than 100,000 years older than Lucy dates back 3.3 million years. Selam is the best preserved infant specimen, with 60 % of the skeleton found. It is the first time that he has left Ethiopia.
Called according to the Beatles song Lucy in the sky with diamondsLucy was discovered in 1974 in the AFAR region, in Ethiopia, by a team co-directed among others by paleontologists Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens. 3.2 million years old is also an Australopithecus, a distant ancestor of Homo Sapiens. The 52 fragments found represent 40 % of its skeleton, making it possible to establish that it was a woman of 1.10 meters, whose bones weighed 30 kg. His powerful arms and more fragile legs showed his ability to climb trees. She died at the age of 11 to 13.
Lucy had left Ethiopia only once before, during a tour in the United States between 2007 and 2013, arousing strong concerns in the scientific community, including at Johanson, despite her support for the project.
The origin of Ethiopia as “cradle of humanity” is based on many discoveries. In the same region, researchers have recently uncovered thirteen teeth allocated either to an unidentified Australopithecus, or to a species of the genus Homo. Dated 2.6 and 2.7 to 2.5 million years respectively, they attest to the coexistence of the two lines. Selamawit Kassa, Minister of Tourism of Ethiopia and partner of the project, underlines: “Ethiopia is unique of its kind thanks to its continuous fossil archives of human ancestors covering six million years, with 14 specimens of human ancestors ranging from Australopitheque to Homo Sapiens discovered in Ethiopia”.
