Paul and Todd’s Czech Anthropology Adventure!
Paul Garner and I just got home from a week in Czechia where we did a little whirlwind tour of anthropology sites and museums. We were very busy pretty much all the time, either viewing and touring places or recording video for our podcast Let’s Talk Creation (find it wherever you get your podcasts). I’m happy to report that everything went mostly according to plan. We recorded 100+ Gb of video, audio, and photos, with enough material for three full podcast episodes, which will take a couple months to edit and release, so look for those coming in January. We also shot some shorts for the New Creation blog, and those will come out whenever the New Creation guys post them. I don’t want to spoil everything from those videos, but I did want to give a little written update about our journey.
Thanks especially to the Genesis Fund at the Nehemiah Foundation for sponsoring our trip. They were very generous to go along with our little scheme on such short notice, and we very much appreciate the funding. Coming along on our adventure was Peter from New Creation blog who helped shoot a lot of the video that we recorded and planned all the video shorts that we recorded as well.
The main event that sparked this whole thing was the first European exhibition of the original Lucy skeleton from Ethiopia. The exhibition was held at the National Museum in Prague and also included the exquisite Selam skeleton from Dikika, right across the Awash River from where Lucy was found. Sadly for us, the museum did not allow any photos of the specimens, and they had a half dozen staff watching carefully to make sure that was enforced. Everyone was very nice though, even as we absent-mindedly held up the line examining the Dikika skeleton and had to be shooed along.
What did we see? The fossils were in a room by themselves with one entrance and one exit. The viewing path took you around a large table in the shape of Ethiopia, with the skeletons inset into it and behind glass. Reconstructions of the skeletons were posed on top of the table. You were greeted immediately on entrance by the Lucy skeleton with Selam a little farther around the table clockwise. Then you passed by Lucy again on your way out.
The real thing was very satisfying to see. We were able to confirm a lot of peculiar anatomical details from the Core Academy cast, even as we noted a few small differences with the real thing. For example, it sure looked like the distal and proximal pieces of the femur fit together like puzzle pieces with no gap. Lots of reconstructions I’ve seen put a gap there, and the detail on our cast is not enough to show how well they go together. I was not expecting that.
It was kind of funny to see that they included the infamous baboon vertebra in the Lucy exhibit. For those who don’t know the story, there was a very small partial neck bone that was included in the original Lucy skeleton catalog. Years later, it was found to be a baboon vertebra and not part of Lucy at all. The researchers who identified the baboon bone noted that Johanson’s team had some reservations about including it in the first place because the texture was slightly different. Looking at it closely, I could sort of see what they were talking about. The baboon vertebra was just a little bit more yellow than the Lucy bones, and it appeared to be smoother and shinier too.
Selam was pretty much exactly what we’d seen in the publications. Preparators had obviously been working on her torso and separating out some of the ribs from the backbone, but otherwise the details were all there. The celebrated foot/ankle, both intact shoulder blades, and the outstanding spine were all present and looked exactly like they looked in the published photos.
Altogether, we went through the line to see these two skeletons around a dozen times. We spent two days in the National Museum, and the evening after our first visit we talked a lot about the details of each individual skeleton and how they lined up with our expectations and what we’d read. Then the next day, we went back and re-examined all those details all over again. Even behind glass, we still got a lot of actual work done besides just recording videos.
You can expect to hear a lot more about all of this on our podcast, so check that out in January.
In addition to the two Australopithecus skeletons, the museum also had a new display dedicated to “People and their Ancestors.” The first room of that was full of reproductions of fossils I’m very familiar with (several of which happen to be on my shelf in my office), but the second big room of that exhibit was mostly about Czech archaeology with a lot of very real pieces on display. There I saw a Neandertal cranial endocast and the woman of Koněprusy Cave, which was billed as the oldest Homo sapiens in Europe. The plentiful artifacts also testified to the skill and artistry of the people who onced lived there. Honestly, I was more excited to see the real stuff than the room full of familiar replicas.
The rest of the National Museum was also outstanding, from the plentiful fossil exhibits to the historical exhibits highlighting the history of Bohemia and Moravia. I learned a lot and had a great time.
Before I left, one of my friends asked me if this was going to be like a religious experience seeing this fossil, and I commented how much science had replaced religious devotion in the west. Speaking for myself though, I was definitely excited to see it, but not in the sort of religious excitement that I am familiar with. This was more intellectual satisfaction than emotional connection. In preparing my postcranial research for ICC, I had read a lot about the skeleton. I’d examined many minute details of Core Academy’s cast. I was very familiar with the details of these bones, and it was extremely satisfying to see them in person. Religious experience it was not.
After two days in Prague and a short bit of sightseeing (including paying our respects at the tomb of Tycho Brahe), we hopped a train east to Moravia for more archaeological explorations. We stopped first in Brno to see the Moravian Museum and the Anthropos Pavilion. These were remarkable places, Anthropos especially. Anthropos had exhibits dedicated to hominins but also to early archaeology from Moravia with far more space to explore both subjects. We had a great time exploring those museums.
From there, we also ventured out into the countryside to a little village called Pavlov. Unless you’re an archaeology fan or a student of the Upper Paleolithic, you probably don’t recognize that name, but it was an amazing place. We visited an archaeological site where you could still see mammoth bones in the ground where former hunters had left them. Then we hiked almost three miles into the surrounding countryside to visit the locations of even more archaeological sites where even more strange things had been found. We’ll tell you more about that in the podcast episode that we recorded along the way.
On the way back to Prague to catch our flights, we stopped off again in Brno and visited the Augustinian monastery where Mendel did his research that unlocked the secrets of inheritance. The garden where his peas grew has been replanted, and it’s a peaceful respite from the otherwise busy city. We got a guided tour of the grounds and Mendel’s room, and then spent time exploring the Mendel Museum.
From there, we enjoyed a sleepy ride on the train back to Prague and another sleepy bus ride to the airport. In addition to the hundreds of video clips and still images we recorded, I estimate we walked close to 20 miles exploring museums, running to catch planes, trains, and the occasional taxi, and hiking the Czech countryside. Everyone we met was very kind and helpful, even when we were out in the countryside where few people spoke English. It was a delightful trip, and we’re extremely grateful to the Genesis Fund at the Nehemiah Foundation for funding our visit. Thanks also to Peter for coming along and helping tremendously with so many filming and recording tasks! This blog post is just the first of many ways you’ll get to hear all about what we saw and learned while in Czechia.
Stay tuned!
Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com. If you enjoyed this article, please consider a contribution to Core Academy of Science. Thank you.
Have you read my book? You should check that out too!
