After an incredibly long 30 hour journey, including a 16.5 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg (I watched 5 movies in a row) I arrived in South Africa on the night of November 15th. I began work at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria on the 16th, where I had the opportunity to work with the 1.5 million year old SK847
Homo erectus cranium. While I was there I also had the opportunity to study the famous Sts 5 (Mrs Ples) australopithicine dated to about 2.5 million years ago and Sk 48, one of the most complete specimens of
Paranthropus robustus. A real perk to working at the Transvaal is the on-site dormitories the museum provides for a tiny fee, which allows researchers to work late even after the staff have gone home for the night. The museum's reverence for the illustrious Robert Broom is fairly obvious, especially when you work in a room full of Broom memorabilia and retrieve specimens from a large walk-in safe filled with fossils affectionately known as the "Broom Room." The displays in the museum were also lots of fun, I couldn't help but laugh at finally getting to see the display of the Australopithecine being drug away by a leopard, something that I will forever associate with Russ Ciochon. Everyone at the museum was incredibly nice, from the curator Stephany Potze to the lady in the cafeteria that served me lunch everyday (which was probably the best I've ever eaten for less than $5).
After an incredibly long 30 hour journey, including a 16.5 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg (I watched 5 movies in a row) I arrived in South Africa on the night of November 15th. I began work at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria on the 16th, where I had the opportunity to work with the 1.5 million year old SK847 Homo erectus cranium. While I was there I also had the opportunity to study the famous Sts 5 (Mrs Ples) australopithicine dated to about 2.5 million years ago and Sk 48, one of the most complete specimens of Paranthropus robustus. A real perk to working at the Transvaal is the on-site dormitories the museum provides for a tiny fee, which allows researchers to work late even after the staff have gone home for the night. The museum's reverence for the illustrious Robert Broom is fairly obvious, especially when you work in a room full of Broom memorabilia and retrieve specimens from a large walk-in safe filled with fossils affectionately known as the "Broom Room." The displays in the museum were also lots of fun, I couldn't help but laugh at finally getting to see the display of the Australopithecine being drug away by a leopard, something that I will forever associate with Russ Ciochon. Everyone at the museum was incredibly nice, from the curator Stephany Potze to the lady in the cafeteria that served me lunch everyday (which was probably the best I've ever eaten for less than $5).
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