Earlier this month, Wits University Professor, Lee Berger announced the discovery of the Australopithecus Sediba fossils, currently on display at the Iziko South African Museum. Iziko Museums of Cape Town, in partnership with Wits University and the Department of Science and Technology, is hosting an open day at the South African Museum this Saturday, 24 April 2010, from 10h00 to 17h00.
Visitors can enter the museum for free to view this exciting fossil collection, which will only be displayed until Saturday, 24 April. This exhibition, entitled Fossils Icons of South Africa, includes the recently unveiled Sediba fossils, dinosaur egg and claw fossils, fossilised bear and pig skulls and the fossil of the huge-horned bovine Pelorovis (the first mammalian fossil from South Africa to be described). A cultural programme will also be hosted outside the museum between 11h00 and 15h00. Activities will include performances from Melanie Scholtz, Black Currant, Hilton Schilder, as well as poetry readings and dance performances.
Palaeoscience Focus Week is aimed at stimulating interest in South Africa's heritage by creating a platform for various sectors of the public to engage in debate about the palaeosciences.
The Department of Science and Technology supports the palaeosciences through the African origins programme, which was initiated to develop the field and provide scientists with the required tools to become leaders in their field by means of research grants, outreach and awareness programmes, and student support initiatives, among other things.
For more information please contact:
Nthabi Maoela
Cell: 082 944 0015
E-mail: Nthabiseng.Maoela@dst.gov.za
Zama Mthethwa
Cell: 082 808 3956
E-mail: Zama.Mthethwa@dst.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
23 April 2010
