15 Years Later, the National Museum of Natural History Is Still Asking What It Means to Be Human

The museum’s groundbreaking Hall of Human Origins centers around the adaptations that set early humans apart

What does it mean to be human?

This question, deceptively simple and imbued with as much philosophy as science, has puzzled all manner of people. But few have thought more about it than paleoanthropologist Rick Potts, the director of the Human Origins Program at the National Museum of Natural History.

Potts has been asking this question for most of his career. When he was teaching introductory anthropology courses in the early 1980s, he would ask his students what they thought it meant to be human. When he arrived at the museum in 1985, he used the question to guide the Smithsonian’s nascent Human Origins Program. And in 2010, the question became the thematic throughline for the museum’s ambitious  “David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins” exhibition.

“I always meant for the theme of the exhibit hall to be this question: what does it mean to be a human?” Potts said. “And the hall was not meant to simply provide an answer. Instead, it’s a platform to discuss the scientific discoveries that inform our own humanity.”

The Hall of Human Origins, which opened fifteen years ago this week, explores the six-million-year epic of human evolution. Unlike many museum exhibits on human evolution, the hall does not focus on a single specimen, like Lucy, or the overall structure of the human family tree. Instead, it centers around the adaptations that set early hominins apart from other ancient primates, such as developing larger brains, walking upright, using tools and communicating with symbolism and language.

According to Potts, this approach offers museum visitors a solid framework to make sense of new fossil discoveries and place them within the overall evolutionary epic of humans and their closest kin. It also provides a way to explore the question he has been asking for decades.

Human Origins on the National Mall

When the Hall of Human Origins opened on March 17, 2010, it also marked the 100th anniversary of the National Museum of Natural History’s historic building. After outgrowing its initial homes in the Smithsonian Institution Building (popularly known as the “Castle”) and the Arts and Industries Building, the museum broke ground on a new home in 1904. As the building neared completion, horse-drawn carts moved some 10 million specimens and objects across the National Mall. On March 17, 1910, the museum opened to the public.

Early displays of human evolution at the museum often focused on a linear approach, where older, ape-like ancestors gave way to more human-like species. However, ancient human fossils revealed that the real story was much more complex with a large cast of evolutionary characters that overlapped, intermingled and likely competed.

"It’s a platform to discuss the scientific discoveries that inform our own humanity.”

— Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the National Museum of Natural History

Potts arrived as the museum’s outdated human evolution displays were being phased out. His ultimate goal was “to bring the subject of human evolution to the National Mall.” He knew that a world-class exhibition would be paramount. It would also complement his team’s research and education goals.

Evolution of an Exhibition

The Hall of Human Origins would take more than 20 years of fundraising, collaboration and development. Over this time, Potts worked closely with the rest of the Human Origins team, especially museum specialist Jennifer Clark, who runs the Human Origins research lab and manages the collection of hominin fossil casts. In 2005, paleoanthropologist and museum educator Briana Pobiner came aboard and soon began helping Potts, Clark and the museum’s exhibit team curate content for the hall.

Pobiner was particularly passionate about spotlighting the human aspect of science. “Instead of just putting facts on the wall, we’re showing how we actually know these things,” Pobiner said.  “We wanted to remind people that there is a human engine behind the scientific enterprise.”

The “human engine” behind research is a major component of the hall. Pobiner, Potts and other human origins researchers are featured throughout the exhibit on both video screen and text panels explaining how they use fossil, archaeological, geological, and genetic discoveries to reach scientific conclusions. The insights from these researchers help provide context for the hundreds of artifacts and fossil casts on display.

The work of renowned paleoartist John Gurche also adds context to the hall’s ancient bones. Gurche worked for multiple years and utilized forensic techniques to construct life-like reconstructions of eight human relatives. His efforts yielded vibrant busts of both distant kin like Australopithecus afarensis (made famous by Lucy) and more recent relatives like Homo neanderthalensis. Gurche also created several bronze sculptures that capture species like Homo erectus frozen in action.

Near Gurche’s reconstructions is one of the museum’s most treasured fossils — the only real Neanderthal skeleton in the western hemisphere. The specimen was unearthed in Iraq’s Shanidar Cave during a joint expedition between the Smithsonian and the Iraqi government in the 1950s. This skeleton (known as Shanidar 3) was an older male when he died (likely from a stab wound visible on one of his ribs) and offers an unprecedented look at how these extinct humans lived. The hall also has several replicas of other ancient human skeletons. [One of the hidden Easter eggs in the hall is a golden ring on the hand of the cast of Homo floresiensis, a tiny early human nicknamed “Hobbits.”]

An Expansive Legacy

While the opening of the Hall of Human Origins was linked to the museum’s historic building, the exhibition’s impact has extended far beyond the National Mall over the past 15 years. “I think the hall’s educational value starts in the exhibit space, but it definitely doesn't end there,” Pobiner said.

Anyone who looks up human evolution on a search engine is likely to encounter the museum’s Human Origins Program website as one of the top results. Pobiner, Potts and their colleagues have also worked with the museum’s exhibits and education teams to create alternate versions of the exhibition. Between 2015 and 2017, a traveling version of the exhibit appeared in 19 public libraries across the country. It will continue to appear in public libraries and seminaries through next year — along with Potts, Pobiner, and a small team who lead free programs at each venue. The museum has also made a free, printable Hall of Human Origins toolkit available online as part of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) exhibit initiative. “We scaled down the size, but we actually didn't scale down the content too much,” Pobiner said. 

Even the hall itself is constantly changing. While it is among the museum’s permanent exhibits, the hall stays fresh thanks to sections like “What’s Hot in Human Origins” that highlights new fossil discoveries and genetic research. A team of knowledgeable volunteers is also stationed throughout the hall to help visitors make sense of the dynamic field of human origins.

One of Potts’ favorite aspects of the hall is the face morphing station, which allows visitors to see what they would look like as different human relatives. The station has become popular among visitors keen on taking pictures of themselves as Neanderthals or an Australopithecus. But Potts thinks this area offers much more than just entertainment.

“I wanted to make sure that the visitors to the hall would not see our early ancestors as simply being the other,” he said. “The morphing station enables people to see themselves in our early ancestors. That's a connection that is invaluable.”

To Potts, seeing ourselves in those that came before is an essential component of being human.

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Jack Tamisiea | | Read More

Jack Tamisiea is a Science Communications Specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. In addition to covering all things natural history for the museum's blog, Smithsonian Voices, he tracks media coverage and coordinates filming activities for the museum's Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Jack recently completed his masters in science writing at Johns Hopkins University and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, National Geographic and other science-focused publications. In his free time, he loves exploring the outdoors with a sketchbook and camera. You can read more of Jack's work at https://jacktamisiea.com.