Upcoming tours of fossil sites in the Cradle of Humankind

liz — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:58:41 +0000

11th sept: Visit Cooper’s Cave situated 1.2km from the famous Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg, a relatively new excavation site where several species of animals and a number of stone tools have been found. Activities on offer for the morning include an interactive fossil and site talk, cave exploration and fossil finding, and an opportunity to learn how to make stone tools, all followed by a light picnic lunch. The price is R350 per person including lunch, and the tour will start at 09h00. This is a family friendly event. Remember to pack a hat, birng a camera, apply sunscreen and wear comfortable walking shoes.

18th Sept: join a small group led by scientist Morris Sutton to see Swartkrans, one of the Cradle of Humankind’s richest fossil sites, usually closed to the public. Swartkrans has yielded the largest sample of Paranthropus robustus, and contains evidence of the earliest use of controlled fire in Southern Africa, dating back 1-million years. I went on this tour this time last year and loved it. See blog post http://lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/cradle-of-humankind-fascinating-tour-of-our-origins

Wits Scientists reveal new species of hominids

liz — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:59:35 +0000

A team led by Professor Lee Berger, a renowned palaeoanthropologist from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (aka Wits University) has described and named a new species of hominid, Australopithecus sediba, almost two million years old, which was discovered in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, 40 kilometres out of Johannesburg, South Africa.
“Sediba, which means natural spring, fountain or wellspring in Sotho, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, was deemed an appropriate name for a species that might be the point from which the genus Homo arises,” comments Berger. “I believe that this is a good candidate for being the transitional species between the southern African ape-man Australopithecus africanus (like the Taung Child and Mrs. Ples) and either Homo habilis or even a direct ancestor of Homo erectus (like Turkana Boy, Java man or Peking man).”

The specimens found are a juvenile male and an adult female. The species has long arms, like an ape, short powerful hands, a very advanced pelvis (hip bone) and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human. It is likely that they could have climbed. “It is estimated that they were both about 1.27 metres, although the child would certainly have grown taller. The female probably weighed about 33 kilograms and the child about 27 kilograms at the time of his death,” adds Prof. Berger. “The brain size of the juvenile was between 420 and 450 cubic centimetres, which is small (when compared to the human brain of about 1200 to 1600 cubic centimetres) but the shape of the brain seems to be more advanced than that of australopithecines.”

The fossils are owned by the people of South Africa, and curated by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. They will be on public display at Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind until the 18th of April 2010, will move to Cape Town for the launch of Palaeo-Sciences Week from the 19th of April and will again be on public display at the Wits Origins Centre during May, on dates to be announced shortly.

» Cradle Humankind

Upcoming tours of fossil sites in the Cradle of Humankind

Wits Scientists reveal new species of hominids