Creation Museum Celebrates Anniversary With Holographic 'Lucy' Exhibit
To celebrate its fifth year of operation, the Creation Museum in Kentucky has set up a holographic exhibit of the famous "Lucy" discovery.
Answers in Genesis opened the museum on Memorial Day weekend in 2007, and to celebrate its anniversary this year it added a special holographic exhibit of the famous fossil as a permanent fixture.
Mark Looy, co-founder and chief communications officer for Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, told The Christian Post that "Lucy" was chosen as a focus due to proponents of evolution continually using it as evidence for their belief.
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"We selected Lucy as the focus for this exhibit as this creature found in Africa, Australopithecus afarensis, is what evolutionists cite as the best evidence that humans have evolved from an ape-like ancestor," said Looy.
Looy also noted the museum's success and that AIG and the Museum "continue to feel blessed to have exceeded the expectations we had back in 2007."
"Not only has the attendance surpassed our projections, as we're averaging more than 300,000 guests a year, but the interest expressed by the media worldwide has also been a blessing," said Looy.
"In addition, the number one comment we receive from our museum guests is 'this place has exceeded our expectations.' So you can see the term applies in both attendance and quality of exhibits, and we look forward to continuing this tradition."
Discovered in Ethiopia by Dr. Donald Johanson on November 24, 1974, the "Lucy" skeleton is believed by most paleontologists to be an evolutionary ancestor of modern man. The find was 40 percent intact, which makes it one of the best preserved fossilized skeletons.
Roy Speckhardt, executive director for the American Humanist Association, told CP that like most paleontologists he also believes that "Lucy" represents "clear evidence of the evolutionary process at work."
"I'm unaware of any arguments against Lucy not being evidence for evolution. Some scientists argue that Lucy wasn't a direct ancestor to modern humans, but was instead an offshoot branch that died out," said Speckhardt.
"Since Lucy's discovery, many other intermediate forms were discovered that together with Lucy present a fascinating picture of the evolutionary process and humankind's place within it."
Dr. David Menton, staff scientist for the Creation Museum, told CP that the holographic exhibit shows how "Lucy" should not be considered a "missing link" for human evolution.
"As this exhibit conclusively shows, the Lucy fossils belong to a knuckle-walking, ape-like creature. We can see that Lucy's V-shaped mandible was very ape-like, nothing like that of a human," said Menton.
"Our exhibit also demonstrates how significant artistic license can be employed in interpreting what Lucy resembled. There simply isn't enough information found in the fossil bones for anyone to determine what Lucy looked like."
In addition to the holographic special effects, the "Lucy" exhibit will include several molded casts of the head of Lucy, save with each head having different hair, skin, and eye color features. This was done by the Creation Museum to illustrate how artistic license can create varying results.
