The anthropological exhibition at the Jagiellonian University Centre for Nature Education in Krakow has been enriched with a new life-size reconstruction of a human ancestor. Belonging to the Australopithecus afarensis species, the famous Lucy has thus joined two existing reconstructions – a Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) and an erect man (Homo erectus).

The species Australopithecus afarensis, or the southern apes of Afar, inhabited East Africa between about 3.7 and 1.3 million years ago. Most fossils have been found in the area of Ethiopia and Tanzania. The most famous representative of the species is Lucy, whose skeletal fragments were found in 1974 near the village of Hadar in Ethiopia. The age of this find is estimated at 3.2 million years.

The number of preserved bones allowed us to determine that Lucy measured just 110 cm and weighed 28 kg, and that her brain capacity was similar to that of modern chimpanzees.

Lucy’s skeleton was a mixture of primitive (ape-like) and modern (human) features. She had short lower limbs, long arms and fingers still adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. Nevertheless, she was able to move freely upright on two limbs, and the structure of her pelvis was not significantly different from that of humans. The curved foot also suggested that she moved with a gait like humans.

The reconstruction of Lucy, a Neanderthal and an erect human, can be seen in the anthropological exhibition at the Jagiellonian University’s Centre for Nature Education at 5 Gronostajowa Street in Kraków in the section on human evolution. In addition to reconstructions of man’s ancestors, the exhibition also features a family tree of modern man, which includes replicas of hominid skulls.

All 3 exhibits were made by the Kamyk Piotr Menducki company from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Each stage of the aforementioned reconstructions was substantively consulted with anthropologists from the Jagiellonian University’s Centre for Nature Education – Dr Małgorzata Kołodziej, Dr Anna Pankowska and Dr Kamil Mrożek.

Adrian Andrzejewski