Continental first for Iziko. To mark International Museum Week, Iziko Museums of South Africa is set to become the first museum in Africa to exhibit one of SA’s greatest palaeo-finds.
Professor Lee Berger, team leader of the Malapa Project of the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University, will be handing over a standing replica of Australopithecus sediba – one of the most complete skeletons of early human relatives ever found.
The replica of the reconstructed upright ‘Karabo’ – the type skeleton of Australopithecus sediba discovered at the Malapa Site in the Cradle of Humankind, is a donation by Wits University, in partnership with the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (COH WHS) Management Authority.
The cast will be incorporated in the exhibition: “The search for our early ancestors,” currently on show at ISAM – the country’s second oldest scientific institute, established in 1825. Australopithecus sediba shows a mosaic of characters of the more ape-like Australopithecines and the earliest representatives of our own genus Homo. This new 1.977 – 1.98 million year old species appears to fill a gap between Australopithecus africanus and the earliest representatives of our own genus, placing it on the cusp of a transition observed in our fossil record.
Says Berger: “As Iziko Museums of South Africa has been such a wonderful supporter of Palaeoanthropological discoveries, it was agreed by the stakeholders that it should be the first museum in Africa to display a standing replica of ‘Karabo’.
This year’s International Museum Day (IMD) theme ‘Museum collections make connections’, demonstrates how museums are living institutions that help create bonds between visitors, generations and cultures around the world.
Iziko Museums of South Africa will host a week-long series of activities leading up to the IMD programme on 17 May.
Ever wondered what happens in the laboratories and storerooms of the museums? Considering a career as a museum scientist, curator or conservator? Be sure to book your behind the scenes tours with Wandile Goosen Kasibe via email on publicprogs@iziko.org.za.
Tours of the following exhibitions and collections are scheduled at 11am and 2pm from 12 to 17 May:
• At the Iziko Slave Lodge: OR Tambo: The modest revolutionary and The isiShweshwe Story: material women?
• At the Iziko South African Museum; Behind the scenes in the Karoo Palaeontology lab, Entomology Collections
• Guided Tours of Iziko Rust en Vreugd at 12:00 and 14:00 on 15 and 16 May 2014.
A diverse range of books, journals, posters and exhibition catalogues will be available at the Annual Art Book Sale, starting at 10:00 until 15:00, at the Iziko South African National Gallery on Friday, 16 May 2014.
Join Iziko for a fun-filled day of adventure, discovery and free entrance on 17 May 2014.
International Museum Day programme highlights:
• Guided tours of the Iziko Bo-Kaap; Slave Lodge and South African Museum, start at 11am in the foyer of each museum.
• Join, curator, Nina Liebenberg for a walkabout of the exhibition: Suspicious minds: Artists’ exploration of mind and matter, in the Iziko South African National Gallery Annexe at 11am
• Tweens, teens and all budding cartoonists – don’t miss the cartoon workshop, hosted by artist and illustrator, Vernon Fourie in the Iziko activities centre (ISAM) from 11:00-13:30.
• Travel through galaxies and join Solly Snail on his quest to become the fasted snail in the universe. Find out whether his plan to ask a shooting star will help him to be chosen for his garden’s soccer team. Free Planetarium shows are scheduled every hour from 11:00 until 15:00
INFO: Melody Kleinsmith, Communications Coordinator, Iziko Museum, on 021 481 3861 or mkleinsmith@iziko.org.za.
LOCATIONS: see the Arts + Crafts Map
