An idiots’ guide to the origins of humankind: part 1

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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. […]

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Become a bone detective ….

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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 […]

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Sediba Australopithecus goes on display again at Maropeng, Cradle of Humankind

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More on Australopithecus sediba See http://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. […]

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Wits Scientists reveal new species of hominids

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SEDIBA: NEW HOMINID SPECIES 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 […]

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Tours for the public to explore a newly discovered fossil site in the Cradle

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TOURS OF CRADLE OF HUMANKIND From Maropeng’s February 2010 newlsetter On April 10, Maropeng and iHominin will give budding palaeontologists a rare opportunity to explore a 1.5-million-year-old fossil site. Cooper’s Cave, 1.2km from the famous Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg, is a relatively newly discovered fossil site, where several species of animals and a number of […]

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