Gofileona Motitswe clings on to her dad Bennitto as she enjoys a birds eye view of the Homo Naledi exhibition at Maropeng. The Homo Naledi temporary exhibition at Maropeng closed on 18 Oct with a special 'Naledi' farewell concert hosted by The department of Arts and Culture and the Gauteng Tourism authority, the concert was held to celebrate our common ancestry and and everything that unites us. Homo Naledi will return to the the University of WITS (Witswatersrand) for further research. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 18/10/2015 Gofileona Motitswe clings on to her dad Bennitto as she enjoys a birds eye view of the Homo Naledi exhibition at Maropeng. The Homo Naledi temporary exhibition at Maropeng closed on 18 Oct with a special 'Naledi' farewell concert hosted by The department of Arts and Culture and the Gauteng Tourism authority, the concert was held to celebrate our common ancestry and and everything that unites us. Homo Naledi will return to the the University of WITS (Witswatersrand) for further research. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 18/10/2015
Lerato Mbangeni
JOHANNESBURG: For five weeks fossils of Homo naledi have been housed in Maropeng’s Cradle of Humankind near Krugersdorp.
On Sunday people bid goodbye to the great discovery during a farewell concert and picnic day at Maropeng.
The event was organised by the Department of Arts and Culture and the Gauteng Tourism Authority, and performers such as The Soil, Lira and Johnny Clegg were on hand to help members of the public say goodbye to the fossils as they were returned to Wits University for further research.
Marina Elliott, a palaeoanthropologist at Wits who was one of the few scientists who accessed the cave, said the journey had been amazing.
“The actual fossils that are here are going to go back to the University of Witwatersrand and they’ll continue to do research, but it has been awesome,” she said.
“I think, in terms of sharing this kind of find with the public, it has been incredible. The people here at Maropeng have been so interested and excited about this, so I think it has been really fun.
“Your average person has heard about it and is really interested in it,” added Elliott.
More than 40 000 people came to see the exhibition, which is almost as many people as usually visit in six months.
And though the Homo naledi bones are leaving, there seems to be lots in store for those whose interest in palaeoanthropology has been piqued.
In between signing autographs for excited visitors Elliott said: “I’m still out in the field and I’m continuing to do excavations, so people should stay tuned… there’ll be more. I can’t say just now, but there will be more discoveries to announce.”
A board member of Maropeng Africa and trustee of the Cradle of Humankind, Trish Hanekom, said the fossils had boosted tourism in the area and the next exhibition was one to look out for.
“It’s called Killer Beasts of the Cradle. We’ll have giant predators that might have been roaming the land while Homo naledi was around.”
The exhibition is set to start next weekend.
Those who weren’t standing in long queues yesterday to see Homo naledi waited outside under umbrellas to shield them from the scorching sun.
Hanekom said they also hoped future concerts would attract music lovers to the World Heritage Site.