The Cradle of Humankind, one of South Africa’s most famous heritage sites, only 45 km outside of Johannesburg
Our human cousins Some time ago I wrote a blog which looked at how humans (the genus Homo) first evolved in Africa nearly 3 MYA [Million Years Ago] . They evolved from an earlier genus of apes called Australopithecus, meaning ‘Southern Ape’. But it seems we should not think of this development as linear, as one […]
Read More »How did Lucy get her name? Do you know where Lucy the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus Aferensis got her name from? Lucy was found in many pieces in 1974 in Hadar north-east Ethiopia by a paleoanthropologist, Donald Johansen. When the expedition returned to camp after working at the recovery site, the Beatles “Lucy in the […]
Read More »Human ancestory: fraught with complexity Africa and South Africa in particular, have been the site and source of many ground-breaking finds of our human ancestory. The world of paleontology is fiercely competitive with specialists arguing about classifications – where are humankind’s roots? Hominin or hominid? the transition from ape to man; dating; new species, etc. […]
Read More »Loads of suggestions on Liz at Lancaster’s website There’s a whole section on our website of things to do with children in Joburg so don’t forget to have a look at those. But here are some more suggestions. An afternoon of browsing at a public library Two maxims meet: “The best things in life […]
Read More »From Joburg CBD, to the birth of humankind to Sandton glass status symbols – they saw it all Liz at Lancaster was delighted to host a wonderful couple from San Francisco in the States recently. It was their first time to South Africa, in fact to Africa and they were up for everything. Although they […]
Read More »Domestic Tourism for Joburg events Do Jozi-ites realize just how many domestic tourists come to the city to see big events? Last week Liz at Lancaster had no fewer than 4 families who drove from different parts of the country to bring their children and grandchildren to see Disney on Ice. We had very […]
Read More »RIP Philip Tobias The world renowned palaeo-anthropologist Philip Tobias has left an extraordinary legacy. A memorial celebration of his life will take place on Wednesday 20th June at 5pm in the Wits Great Hall. by
Read More »Half day walking tour of fossils in the Cradle of humankind The Maropeng Visitor Centre recently launched a new walking tour to give amateur paleoanthropologists insight into the exciting fossil record to be found in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. The new half-day tour called Bone Detectives is an introduction to human evolution […]
Read More »More on Australopithecus sediba See https://www.lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/wits-scientists-reveal-new-species-of-hominids What? The fossils of Australopithecus sediba The adult female specimen, MH-2, will feature in a new display called More secrets of sediba revealed, along with other fossils from the Malapa site in the Cradle of Humankind Where? They will be exhibited once again at Maropeng When? from September 9 to September 26. […]
Read More »Another fossil tour I blogged on the tours to Swartkrans in the Cradle of humankind https://lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/cradle-of-humankind-fascinating-tour-of-our-originsn but now there are opportunties to visit Cooper’s Cave, a relatively new excavation site in the Cradle of Humankind, with Wits University palaeoanthropologist Christine Steininger. For R350 per person, including lunch, you get to explore the cave, interact with Christine while she explains fossils […]
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