Human Origins Exhibit at Museum of Natural History

Today, the new David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.  The $20 million permanent exhibit hall is dedicated to telling the story of how humans evolved during the past six million years .

Starting with primates, mainly chimpanzees whose DNA is more then 98% identical to human DNA, Homo Sapiens spun off from their ape ancestors and eventually became an upright-walking human, somewhere between 4 and 8 million years ago.

Some of the highlights of the new 15,000-square-foot hall include:

• Time tunnel showing how climate change and the environment related to adn impacted life on the planet
• Reconstructed faces of early man, including 75 human skills reproductions
• Interactive human family tree covering 6 million years of global human evolution
• Time snapshots of anthropological field research sites from around the world
• “One Species Living Worldwide” amphitheater show

While the exhibits may not answer the age old debate of where modern man came from, it will explore the many possibilities, including the two main theories accepted by most scholars.

The first theory being that modern man first inhabited the globe through a multi-regional model of evolution, evolving in multiple places simultaneously.

And the second, theorizing that the human gene pool started in Africa and people eventually migrated around the globe starting 50,000-70,000 years ago.

Which ever theory you  believe, the new exhibit hall at the National Museum of Natural Histry should be a learning experience for visitors of all ages.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History
Constitution at 10th Street, NW
Washington, DC  (map it)

Dates & Times – Daily 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., some evenings the museum stays open until 7:30.

Admission – Free

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Smithsonian Station (use the Mall exit) or Federal Triangle – Blue and Orange lines, then a 2-3-block walk, or use the DC Circulator bus.

Parking – Limited metered street parking and area paid garage parking is available.

Images – Flickr – skulls, evolution scheme