Outing to Karoo and Hominid Fossils at Origins at Wits
By:
Lead by Dr Sifelani Jirah
Date:
Thu, 05/10/2023 - 13:30
Venue:
The Origins Centre Car Park at Wits University
Branch:
Northern
Time: 13:30 for 14:00
Meet at: Origins Centre, Wits University. Parking directly in front of the building on Yale Rd.
Duration: Roughly 2 hours.
Charge: Members R60 (limited to 20 members only)
Booking: Please email Anne Raeburn on anner@mweb.co.za to book
Information about the Outing
In the Karoo fossil vault we will see Therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) and Dinosaurs then in the hominid vault we will see human ancestors (3.67 – 1.8 million years old).
Information about the Tour Guide
Sifelani Jirah was born in Mberengwa, Zimbabwe in 1977. He achieved his BSc at the University of Zimbabwe in 2000. He worked as a Biology teacher and later as a curator of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He later did his BSc(Hons), MSc, and PhD (Palaeontology) on the Middle Permian biodiversity of large herbivores in the South African Karoo Basin at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, while in the employ of the Evolutionary Studies Institute (formerly the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research) where he was a fossil preparator from September 2006 till July 2014. In August 2014 he was appointed Fossil collections manager of the Evolutionary Studies Institute a position he holds to date. He has published 10 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals on various aspects of vertebrate palaeontology as well as stratigraphy of the Middle Permian rocks of the South African Karoo Basin.
Report of Outing to the Wits Fossil Primate and Hominid Vault – 5 October 2023
Our group led by Dr Jirah, standing in the middle.
A nondescript building on the East Campus of Wits University houses a large and internationally acclaimed fossil collections of dinosaurs, therapsid mammal-like reptiles, plants and hominids. This collection is curated by the Evolutionary Studies Institute, previously known as the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research.
This Institute adopts an approach to research that incorporates the disciplines of palaeontology, palaeoanthropology, molecular biology, genetics, archaeology, geography, biology, ecology and climatology.
The Institute’s website states that its genetic evidence and the geological record are an archive of past biodiversity and reveal the effect of global mass extinctions, making these disciplines particularly relevant as the Earth faces a biodiversity crisis amid the so-called 6th extinction. Southern Africa’s rich geological, palaeontological palaeoanthropological and archaeological record covers a vast time-period, ranging from the origins of life to recent times. It is one of the few regions enabling researchers to understand both past and present changes in biodiversity. The Institute also preserves a record of Earth’s history from the earliest evidence of life 3.5 billion years ago to the origin of humans and their culture in the last 150 000 years. Its large and important fossil collections are used by researchers around the world.
The wide-eyed members of the Northern Branch of ArchSoc therefore considered themselves fortunate to be guided by Dr Sifelani Jirah, the Institute’s Fossil Collections Manager, through this world-class facility and its collections.
Upon entering the Institute, we encountered a virtually complete skeleton of Massospondylus carinatus excavated by Professor James Kitching in 1980 near Clocolan in the Free State Province. Affectionally named ‘Big Momma’, this specimen of 200 million years ago weighed 500kg, was 5 metres long, and ate plants. Big Momma walked on her hind legs and made nests with up to 30 eggs in what is today Golden Gate Highlands National Park near Clarens. This specimen replaced the holotype of the species, which was destroyed during World War II during an air raid in Europe.
James Kitching (1922 - 2003) is not a name well known beyond the confines of this Institute, but he was a South African vertebrae palaeontologist, and was regarded as one of the world’s greatest fossil finders. Despite not having an undergraduate degree, he was permitted by the Senate of Wits University to register for a Master of Science degree. For his research on Karoo fossils, completed in 1972, he was awarded a doctorate.
Karoo Vertebrate Collection
In the Karoo Vertebrate Collection Vault.
The Karoo Vertebrate Collection reputedly holds more than 6 000 specimens, consisting primarily of fossils from the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Supergroup, a sequence of sedimentary rocks laid down by large meandering rivers during the periods of the Middle Permian (256myr) to the Mid-Triassic (215 myr ago).
All the major vertebrate groups from the Beaufort Group are represented in this collection, with specimens of Dicynodontia (herbivores with a pair of tusks, hence their name ‘two dog tooth’), Gorgonopsia (from the Greek ‘Gorgon’, a sabre-toothed therapsid), Therocephalia (their large skulls and teeth suggest they were carnivores) and Cynodontia (early ancestors of mammals; warm-blooded and with hairy bodies).
The Phillip V Tobias Primate and Hominid Fossil Laboratory
Ascending the stairs, we entered the impressive Phillip Tobias Primate and Hominid Fossil Laboratory. This laboratory named in honour of Phillip Valentine Tobias, houses one of the largest collections of hominid fossils in the world.
Emeritus Professor Tobias (1925 – 2012) was one of South Africa’s most honoured and decorated scientists, and a world authority on human prehistoric ancestors. This world-class facility was purpose-built ten years ago and can accommodate 30 scientists working on its collections.
Partial skull and mandible of the Taung Child encased in a protective glass cover.
Exhibited in the centre are probably this laboratory’s two prized possessions: the partial skull and mandible of the Taung Child and the virtually complete skeleton of Little Foot.
Although the discovery of the skull of the Taung Child is well known, with the centenary of this event approaching soon, a brief retelling might be useful.
In 1924, Raymond Dart after having received several samples of fossils unearthed at the Buxton quarry near Taung, found one whose cranial vault indicated evidence of a more complex brain. Soon afterwards, Dart completed a paper that named the species as Australopithecus africanus, the ‘southern ape from Africa’. The paper appeared in the 7 February 1925 issue of the journal Nature. The fossil was soon nicknamed the Taung Child.
Adjacent to the Taung Child lies the almost complete skeleton of Little Foot, the earliest example of australopithecine yet found. It was discovered in 1997 by Professor Ron Clarke and his two assistants, encased in breccia in the Silberstein Grotto of the Sterkfontein Caves. It took 10 years of painstaking and delicate work to free the skeleton from the surrounding breccia and rock. It has been dated to approximately 3.67 million years ago.
Thank you to Dr Sifelani Jirah for a fascinating outing.
Report and photos by SJ de Klerk.