(From left to right: Sara Almarzooqi, Professor Donald Johanson, Dr Peter Kjaergaard, and Dr Mark Jonathan Beech)
I was recently honoured to meet Professor Donald Johanson, the American palaeoanthropologist, when he visited the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, to be reunited with “Lucy”. In 1974 he discovered “Lucy”, also known as “Dinkinesh” (Amharic: ድንቅ ነሽ, ‘you are marvellous‘), Australopithecus afarensis, at Hadar in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia. “Lucy” is a 40 per cent complete skeleton of one of the most important early human ancestors. The famed 3.2-million-year-old fossil transformed our scientific understanding of humanity’s origins. “Lucy” is on temporary loan to the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi courtesy of the Ethiopia Heritage Authority. She has been placed on display in the Human Story Gallery from the opening of the museum on 22 November 2025 and will remain here up until 23 March 2026, after which she will return home to Ethiopia.
Special thanks go to Abebaw Ayalew Gella (Director-General of the Ethiopia Heritage Authority) and Sahleselassie Melaku (Department Head and Research Associate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology, National Museum of Ethiopia) for their kind assistance and support to make this all happen.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
The National, 12 February 2026
From Ethiopia to Abu Dhabi: What Lucy, our prehuman ancestor, teaches us 50 years after discovery
The National, 27 November 2026
Lucy at Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi: 3.2-million-year-old fossil now on display
Professor Donald Johanson and Dr Mark Jonathan Beech (centre), Robin Johanson (right), Dr Peter Kjaergaard (third from right) and Tine Jess (fourth from right) meet local staff at the Faya Palaeolandscape UNESCO World Heritage site in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.