PRAGUE, Feb 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The bone fragments of Lucy, a 3.18 million 
year-old human ancester which rarely leave Ethiopia, will go on display in 
Europe for the first time in Prague this year, the Czech premier said 
Tuesday.

The ancient remains of the Australopithecus afarensis were discovered in 
Ethiopia in 1974. The find was, at the time, the most complete ever found, 
and revolutionised the understanding of humanity's ancestors.

"Lucy's skeletal remains will be displayed in Europe for the first time 
ever," Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters as he announced the rare loan 
by Ethiopia's National Museum. The fragments will be shown at Prague's 
National Museum as part of a "Human Origins and Fossils" exhibition for two 
months from August 25.

The remains will be presented alongside Selam, the fossil of a baby 
Australopithecus who was about 100,000 years older than Lucy and found in the 
same place 25 years later.

"This historic exhibition... will offer tourists and researchers a once-in-a-
lifetime opportunity to see these priceless fossils first-hand," said 
Ethiopian Tourism Minister Selamawit Kassa.

In her current shape, Lucy consists of fossilised dental remains, skull 
fragments, parts of the pelvis and femur.

The fossilised skeleton of the 1.1-metre-tall (3.6 feet), 29-kilogramme (64-
pound) Lucy last left Ethiopia between 2007 and 2013 when it toured US 
museums.

The hominid was named after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" 
which the team that had found her listened to after the discovery.

Lucy walked on two legs and is thought to have died aged between 11 and 13 -- 
considered an adult for this species.

She was believed to be the oldest human ancestor found until the discovery of 
"Toumai" in Chad in 2001 -- a skull dated to six or seven million years old.

In a 2016 study, researchers said Lucy had strong upper arms, suggesting she 
regularly climbed trees and nested in branches at night.

She also had relatively weak legs that were not used for climbing and were 
inefficient for walking, the study concluded.

An analysis of a fracture on one of Lucy's bones in the same year suggested 
that she probably died from a fall from a tall tree.

Long considered the longest living human relative, Lucy was dethroned of her 
status in 1994 following the discovery -- also in Ethiopia -- of Ardi, a 
female Ardipithecus ramidus who lived 4.5 million years ago.