Charge:     Non-members: R70, members:   R40

 Note that numbers of members for this visit are limited to an absolute maximum of 48 people, owing to the size of  

 the room in which we will view the skeleton.

 

Professor Ronald Clark will show us the fossilized skeleton of Little Foot, the most complete skeleton of an Australopithecus older than 1.5 million years ever found. He will tell us why he believes Little Foot (Australopithecus Prometheus) differs from other forms of Australopithecus.

 

Ronald Clarke is an honorary professor in Palaeoanthropology in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. For many years he directed the excavations of the Sterkfontein caves, and his prime responsibility now in retirement is the preparation and publication of the Little Foot skeleton. Ron was born in Wokingham, England and in 1963 qualified in Conservation of Antiquities at the London University Institute of Archaeology. From then until 1969, he worked as Archaeological and Palaeontological Assistant to Dr Louis Leakey at the Centre for Prehistory in Nairobi, Kenya. Clarke received his BSc Honours in Anthropology at London University, followed by his PhD at Wits, completed in 1977, supervised by Prof. Phillip Tobias. Clarke was responsible for most of the excavation and casting of the 3.6 million-year-old Australopithecus footprint trail at Laetoli, Tanzania. In 1994 and 1997, he discovered in boxes at Sterkfontein the previously unrecognized Australopithecus foot and leg bones of the kind of foot that would have made the Laetoli prints. This led to the discovery of the 3.67 million-year-old Australopithecus skeleton in the Sterkfontein caves. Clarke has developed an international reputation for his skill and has held positions at the old Transvaal Museum and the National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, the American Museum of Natural History, and English Heritage in the UK.

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