Visitors engage with artefacts at the exhibit.
Robyn Walker
The exhibit offers a close look at the problematic history of palaeoanthropology.
What happened to the Neanderthals?
frantic00 via Shutterstock.com
What could the extinction of Neanderthals tell us about our own species? An archaeologist explains in The Conversation Weekly podcast.
A general view of Wadi Gharandal riverine wetland, along the Jordan Rift Valley, showing palm trees concentrated at the centre of the wadi near the active spring.
Mahmoud Abbas
The findings reveal a close association between climatic conditions and early human migrations out of Africa.
Possible shod hominin tracks in the Garden Route National Park, South Africa.
Charles Helm
Trackway findings support the notion of southern Africa being one region where human cognitive and practical ability developed a very long time ago.
This ammoglyph consists of a circular groove, a central depression and two possible knee impressions.
Charles Helm
Ammoglyphs – ancient ‘sand art’ – are a relatively new find.
The evolutionary loss of body hair made it easier for human ancestors to hunt in the heat.
Marco Anson
Africa’s large mammal heritage has formed a deep cultural legacy for all of humankind.
Elia Pellegrini/Unsplash
If we go far enough back in time, we all share an ancestor. And some of the features found in our bones and bodies today are a testament to that.
A helicopter, net and a long-line cable - as well as a skilled pilot - were key to the ‘rescue’ operation.
Richard Webb
Without intervention, the rock may have been destroyed by high tides and storm surges.
A photogrammetry image of the tracks. The horizontal and vertical scales are in metres.
CHARLES HELM
Human tracks registered in aeolianites - cemented dune surfaces - are rare at a global level.
A life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.
[© Sculpture: Elisabeth Daynes/Photograph: S. Entressangle
Studying the lower back allows researchers to understand how the species’ anatomy was adapted for different kinds of movement.
A reconstruction of the skull of Leti, the first Homo naledi child whose remains were found in the Rising Star cave in Johannesburg.
© Wits University
The fossil material was recovered from the surface of a tight, narrow passage that can only be accessed with difficulty by one person at a time.
Handaxes, as seen in the top row, were common to this period; the tools seen in the bottom row appear to be unique to this site.
Rosalia Gallotti
Knowing that our North African ancestors were making handaxes helps scientists to understand how our human ancestors spread across the African continent.
The larger of the two triangular geometric features (scale bar = 10 cm.)
Charles Helm
It appears that the South African Cape south coast’s dunes and beaches formed a vast canvas of sand on which our ancestors could leave their mark.
Graffiti obscures beautiful curved invertebrate traces on a rock surface in South Africa.
Charles Helm
These surfaces are of profound scientific, cultural, heritage, environmental, and aesthetic importance. Unfortunately, they are threatened - by graffiti.
Mr Nai/Shutterstock
A remarkable set of discoveries has confirmed that parts of Stonehenge first stood 140 miles away at Waun Mawn, west Wales.
A hominin track in Garden Route National Park, lightly outlined in chalk. The track is 24 centimetres long.
Charles Helm
These ancient surfaces, which often preserve the tracks in remarkable detail, are now amenable to inspection and interpretation.
A: Border Cave’s 200,000 year old fossilised grass fragments. B: The profile section of desiccated grass bedding dating to around 43,000 years ago.
Both images copyright Lyn Wadley
Before 200,000 years ago, close to the origin of our species, people preferred the use of broad-leaved grasses to build their beds and resting areas using ash layers underneath.
The bone arrowhead (insert) found at Klasies River main site has much to teach us.
Justin Bradfield and Sarah Wurz
The artefact comes from deposits dated to more than 60,000 years ago. It closely resembles thousands of bone arrowheads used by the indigenous San hunter-gatherers from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
The ~2 Ma Homo erectus cranium, DNH 134, from the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site.
Matthew V. Caruana
This is a hugely important find. It means that one of our earlier ancestors possibly originated in southern Africa.
Little Foot’s skull, with the arrow on the right-hand image indicating the specimen’s atlas.
R.J. Clarke/Author supplied
The findings suggest that this specimen could climb and move in trees. But it may also have been able to walk on the ground. This echoes previous studies.