🐝Pollen can reveal ecosystem changes over time.
Research led by HERI’s Dr. Tsilavo Razafimanantsoa uses modern pollen rain in #Madagascar to shed light on ancient pollen records - so we can better understand the origins of open ecosystems on the island.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Since 2019, HERI has run women-focused field camps for archaeology & geology students.
Female-led and hands-on, they provide field skills, mentorship, and safe spaces—building confident, resilient researchers ready to study #Africa’s rich heritage.
How do you explain human evolution to a 12-year-old?
A Frontiers for Young Minds article by HERI researchers, including its Co-Director Rebecca Ackermann, explains what a human & a Neanderthal child might look like.
It's science made easy for young readers
kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
🌍 Artifacts from Africa
These are Early Stone Age Acheulean handaxes, remarkable tools that show the ingenuity and skill of early humans. View them on display at the HUMANITY exhibition at @Iziko Museum, curated by HERI researchers.
Reminder: The GSSA Western Cape Branch Alex du Toit Lecture is coming up.
Presented by HERI’s Associate Professor @pickeringrobyn.bsky.social on early humans and hydrology in southern Africa.
RSVP by 25 March 2026.
HERI-led research wins the SAJS (sajournalofscience.bsky.social) Outstanding Article Award 2025.
Congratulations 🎉 to @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social and co-authors for receiving the award for their Australopithecus africanus palaeoproteomics paper.
Read more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
Congratulations to our @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social and colleagues on winning the 2025 Outstanding Article Award! We are proud to see HERI research making such a significant contribution to South African palaeoanthropology.
Today it's a desert. 105,000 years ago, it held waterfalls & modern homo sapiens
The @dailymaverick.co.za looks at work from an all-women team of HERI researchers who challenged theories of #humanevolution to show our ancestors lived in a water-rich Kalahari
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021...
🎧 Unburied Season 2: The Taung Child
The story of a 2-million-year-old fossil that challenged scientific authority, exposed colonial bias, and reshaped human origins.
Produced by @ARC with HERI at the @University of Cape Town
🎙️ Listen to all 4 episodes NOW: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
In 2025, 12 ground-breaking publications by women of colour at HERI (UCT) reshaped debates across palaeoanthropology, archaeology, geochronology, and planetary geology, marking a significant change in who is leading palaeoscience research.
Learn more: www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
Historic moment! A/Prof @pickeringrobyn.bsky.social, HERI Co-director, will deliver the 2026 Alex du Toit Lecture Series, the first female to do so since 1969.
The series honours Alexander du Toit, a South African geology pioneer and early champion of continental drift theory. Dates on the flyer
@pickeringrobyn.bsky.social
Last year, HERI contributed to the @SAJS special issue marking 100 years of the #TaungChild.
With abstracts in #Setswana, the issue gave multilingual insights into science, colonialism & exclusion.
Read more reflections from the SAJS Editor-in-Chief: mailchi.mp/assaf/gknccq...
HERI Co-Directors Rebecca Ackermann and Robyn Pickering invite contributions to the symposium “New Directions in Palaeoanthropological Research in Southern Africa” at IPC7.
To submit an abstract, please email the convenors.
Details and information on all 29 symposia are available at: www.ipc7.site
🎉 Big congratulations to our HERI MSc student, Marang Keebine, for receiving the Best Student Poster Award at the BIOGRIP 2026 conference (UCT, 28–30 January)! Wishing her continued success in her research journey!
#WomeninScience in #SouthAfrica ⚒️
HERI Master’s student Marang Keebine studies past #climate & environmental change using sediments from an ancient lake in the Karoo.
Her work sheds light on how dry landscapes responded to drought and rainfall – and how we can respond today.
Thrilled to share that the 2025 SAJS paper with the highest attention score was led by our @palaeoprotpalesa.bsky.social, with nearly 4,000 abstract views!
The study identified 2 Myr-old proteins from Paranthropus robustus, revealing biological sex & genetic variability
sajs.co.za/article/view...
Reminder: ASAPA abstract deadline 31 Jan ⏰
We invite abstracts for our session on the Pleistocene record of the Kalahari and interior southern Africa, including comparative studies with other regions of southern Africa or Africa.
Submit via the ASAPA portal: asapa2026.co.za/submissions....
Did you know?
Early humans in #SouthAfrica were making spears 500,000 years ago.
These stone points from the #archaeology site of Kathu Pan 1 have impact damage, hafting marks & shapes perfectly suited for spear use — revealing surprisingly advanced weapon technology.
Imagine surviving in the Kalahari thousands of years ago—one of #Africa’s driest environments.
Evidence shows that early humans didn’t just endure it; they adapted with remarkable skill.
🔗 www.heriuct.co.za/news-content/surviving-the-drylands-stone-tools-as-evidence-of-early-social-networks
New work by HERI's @drpeechiwara.bsky.social & colleagues reviews Middle Stone Age evidence in #Africa to explore how early humans built complex social networks
Looking at context & patterns, the paper sheds light on the deep roots of human cooperation & collaboration.
doi.org/10.17159/saj...
Women in science in #Africa 🌍
Christina Mutinda, a HERI PhD candidate at @UCT_news, explores how early humans adapted to changing environments.
Using fossils, isotopes and ecological clues, she reconstructs East Africa’s Early Pleistocene habitats, when Paranthropus boisei roamed.
HERI’s Dr Rieneke Weij has led a rare update of U-Th & U-Pb dating in palaeoscience.
Published with our Dr Tara Edwards, the review highlights advances & potential for carbonate geochronology — and the implications for #humanevolution research.
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
A great step forward for Kalahari archaeology. @drpeechiwara.bsky.social and the team’s work offer important new insights into early Homo sapiens technological choices in interior southern Africa.
105,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left their mark at Gamohana Hill North Rockshelter in the Kalahari. They crafted points from galaxy tuff, a 2.4-billion-year-old glass-like stone. Not just a rock, but evidence of skill, planning, and ingenuity.
📖 Read more at
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
HERI’s Drs @drpeechiwara.bsky.social & Ben Schoville are organising a session at ASAPA 2026 on Pleistocene adaptations in the Kalahari and other interior drylands of southern Africa.
Researchers working in these regions are invited to submit abstracts and join the discussion.
asapa2026.co.za
New publication alert!‼️ Wrapping up 2025 with my fifth paper of the year in the SAJS!
The paper reviews how stone tools reveal social connections, noting similar patterns can also arise independently and suggesting ways to better distinguish the two. 💫
🔗 doi.org/10.17159/saj...
Why is #TaungChild one of the most important fossils in the world?
Find out in our new podcast, which tells the story of how one fossil challenged colonial narratives & scientific authority to show human origins lie in #Africa
Listen to all episodes now🔊
www.heriuct.co.za/news-content...
ASAPA 2026 Call for Abstracts is open!
Ben Schoville and I are organising a session on Pleistocene adaptations in the Kalahari and other interior drylands of southern Africa.
Working in these landscapes? We’d love your contribution.
Submit here: asapa2026.co.za
Deadline: 31 Jan 2026
Ancient tooth proteins reveal the biological sex and genetic diversity of Paranthropus robustus.
Led by Dr. Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen and UCT’s HERI, this study provides the oldest human genetic data from Africa.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
