View Larger Map
Now, Alli already posted pictures, and shes much less verbose than me, so you could scroll down to see them. But for you readers, here's some explanation:
The museum is called Maropeng, which means something like "to return to ones origins" in the Setswana language. In the museum you walk through one of those epic geological time scales that make you feel so infinitesimally small and insignificant that you wonder why we exist at all. But that's a whole 'nother discussion, and I ain't gonna open no can a existentialism worms here, so I'll continue...
Within the same land complex, but some 5 miles away are the Sterkfontein Caves within which one of the oldest and most complete hominid skulls, STS 5, or as we affectionately call her, "Mrs. Ples," was found. Interesting note: One of the reasons scientists initially called her Mrs. Ples was the fact that it had a smaller cranial cavity. Just sayin'. In fact, no one knows if this over two million year-old fossil was in fact a male or female because they never discovered the pelvis, which would have been the most helpful in determining the sex of the early...let's see if I remember this correctly...austropithecus africanus...dang it...it's actually Australopithecus Africanus. After the cave you reach a boardwalk where you can view the valley where apparently over forty percent of ALL fossils ever discovered are from. Truly, the cradle of humankind. So, I can say, I feel like I was at home there.
Choose to either rub the nose for luck, or the hand for wisdom.We both chose to pick the nose.
No comments:
Post a Comment