Our podcast is a model of what it looks like to place African voices at the centre of the #TaungChild fossil discovery, says Justin Pargeter in this SAJS review. 📖 Read the review & listen to all episodes of HERI's Unburied Season 2 FREE here: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

📢 New in the latest SAJS! Two contributions connected to HERI: 🎙️ Justin Pargeter reviews the Taung podcast 📚 Precious Chiwara reviews "The Untold History and Prehistory of African Indigenous Palaeontology." sajs.co.za/index.php/sa... sajs.co.za/index.php/sa... More details coming soon!

The future of palaeoscience in #Africa is African🌍 Read this reflection from HERI master’s students Kelly-Anne Shaw & Kirsten Van Der Heyden - who travelled to Kanapoi and Chesowanja in #Kenya as part of a field exchange organised by the PANACHE initiative. www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

The 2026 Tswalu archaeological field season is underway! Led by HERI Research Associate Ben Schoville, excavations have been underway here since 2018. Artefacts recovered - like these 1.3 million-year-old handaxes - reflect the skill and technological abilities of hominins that lived in #Africa.

From the heart of Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, HERI researchers Marang Keebine and @drpeechiwara.bsky.social are helping uncover new evidence of early human behaviour in the #Kalahari. Every discovery adds another piece to our shared human story.

Only 4% of lead authors in the Journal Human Evolution are from Africa & South America - despite #Africa’s central role in the human fossil record. 🤝 Read why we think stronger collaboration and shared leadership can help rebalance this: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

Our HERI Co-Director, @pickeringrobyn.bsky.social, and HERI's @drpeechiwara.bsky.social presented two HERI talks at this week's #ASAPA conference on the Taung Podcast and HERI's All-Women Fieldwork Camp. It was great to hear that these conversations were so well received and considered much needed.

Our #HERIspotlight shines brightly on @Dr Wendy Black. A founding member of HERI, Wendy helped shape our direction and impact. As she turns to a new role at @Iziko, we celebrate her contributions and say THANK YOU! Read more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/herispotlight-wendy-black

5 HERI researchers are heading to the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists Conference this weekend! Explore the full programme here - with sessions from our @drpeechiwara.bsky.social and @bschov.bsky.social, among others. 👉 asapa2026.co.za/documents/AS... #ASAPA2026

🚨First-ever protein study of Homo Naledi teeth led by HERI’s Dr @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social finds zero male markers in 23 samples - suggesting all individuals analysed were female. A major step forward in studying sex differences in extinct species. 🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026... Sent with my Daily Maverick App (app.dailymaverick.co.za) @johnhawks.net @leerberger.bsky.social @heriuct.bsky.social

Homo naledi fossils: Tests show no males in the cave system

The first protein analysis of the fossil teeth of Homo naledi showed that all individuals in the cave system are female. This may provide further evidence that these extinct human relatives had some f...

dailymaverick.co.za

Fossils from #Africa 🌍 Dr Charles Musiba explores the 3.6 million-year-old Laetoli footprints in a Lunch Break Science talk by the @leakeyfoundation.org Listen here as he unpacks who made them & what they reveal about early human movement and behaviour. ▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=df7x...

Ever wondered why humans have chins? 🤔 New research by HERI’s Lauren Schroeder suggests chins aren’t a direct adaptation. They are linked to other changes like brain growth and a flatter face. In short, chins may be a byproduct of how our faces evolved. 🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

Research by HERI’s @drpeechiwara.bsky.social uses ICP-MS & XRF to trace ancient tools from Tswalu to their geological sources, revealing new insights into early human raw material selection. 🔗https://www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/how-icp-ms-and-xrf-methods-help-us-understand-early-human-behaviour

Podcasting can bring #humanevolution research into public conversation - where more voices can be heard. Our podcast on the #TaungChild explores how the Taung fossil reshaped ideas about human origins in #Africa. 🎧 Listen to all 4 episodes FREE: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

🌍 Artifacts from Africa Ostrich eggshell beads are among the most enduring forms of personal ornamentation in southern Africa - small artifacts that reveal ancient traditions and social connections. 🔍 Learn what these beads reveal from HERI's Amy Hatton: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

This is what pan-African collaboration looks like! Our master’s students, Akira Banwari and Keane Wanza, joined the field season in Laetoli, #Tanzania, to gain hands-on experience at sites famous for early hominin footprints, fossils, and stone tools. Read more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

Our HERI’s Rivoningo Khosa revisits the landscapes around the #TaungChild fossil. Her study shows southern Africa was more dynamic and less dry than previously thought, using new quantitative methods to create richer models of landscape evolution. Read the paper: sajs.co.za/article/view...

A single fossil. A century of debate. Unburied Season 2: The #TaungChild traces how a #SouthAfrican discovery disrupted science and reshaped ideas about human origins. Created by ARC with HERI at UCT. 🎧 All episodes out now: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

We are proud of our HERI PhD student, Georgina Luti, who presented her work today at EGU 2026 🇦🇹. Her research explores aragonite preservation in calcite speleothems and what it reveals about the reliability of dating these cave deposits, using samples from #SouthAfrica’s Cradle of Humankind.

Did you know? 🦴 A dental enamel fragment from the Australopithecus africanus fossil continues to shed light on early human biology—and was part of research that won the @sajournalofscience.bsky.social Outstanding Article Award 2025. Read more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

🌍Have you seen the HUMANITY exhibition yet? Launched in partnership between HERI and Iziko Museum, it takes visitors on a journey that explores our diversity and how we became who we are today. More info here: bit.ly/4cNAzvI Open days & hours link: bit.ly/4issDRx

🐝Pollen can reveal ecosystem changes over time. Research led by HERI’s Dr. Tsilavo Razafimanantsoa uses modern pollen rain in #Madagascar to shed light on ancient pollen records - so we can better understand the origins of open ecosystems on the island. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Since 2019, HERI has run women-focused field camps for archaeology & geology students. Female-led and hands-on, they provide field skills, mentorship, and safe spaces—building confident, resilient researchers ready to study #Africa’s rich heritage.

How do you explain human evolution to a 12-year-old? A Frontiers for Young Minds article by HERI researchers, including its Co-Director Rebecca Ackermann, explains what a human & a Neanderthal child might look like. It's science made easy for young readers kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

🌍 Artifacts from Africa These are Early Stone Age Acheulean handaxes, remarkable tools that show the ingenuity and skill of early humans. View them on display at the HUMANITY exhibition at @Iziko Museum, curated by HERI researchers.

Reminder: The GSSA Western Cape Branch Alex du Toit Lecture is coming up. Presented by HERI’s Associate Professor @pickeringrobyn.bsky.social on early humans and hydrology in southern Africa. RSVP by 25 March 2026.

HERI-led research wins the SAJS (sajournalofscience.bsky.social) Outstanding Article Award 2025. Congratulations 🎉 to @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social and co-authors for receiving the award for their Australopithecus africanus palaeoproteomics paper. Read more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...

Today it's a desert. 105,000 years ago, it held waterfalls & modern homo sapiens The @dailymaverick.co.za looks at work from an all-women team of HERI researchers who challenged theories of #humanevolution to show our ancestors lived in a water-rich Kalahari www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021...

🎧 Unburied Season 2: The Taung Child The story of a 2-million-year-old fossil that challenged scientific authority, exposed colonial bias, and reshaped human origins. Produced by @ARC with HERI at the @University of Cape Town 🎙️ Listen to all 4 episodes NOW: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...