Prof Lee R Berger
@leerberger.bsky.social
Explorer in Residence, The National Geographic Society https://explorers.nationalgeographic.org/directory/lee-r-berger#c1af6ba3-0859-41e9-a4d6-6b3491785ea8
Here’s something you don’t see every day (or in fact ever) the bigger bone is a hominin phalanx. The little round bone, a sesamoid bone nearly in anatomical position. 2mya from Malapa - A sediba. Beautiful preparation by one of our outstanding preparators Bonele of the Nat Geo Rising Star Project.
October 13, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Here’s something you don’t see every day (or in fact ever) the bigger bone is a hominin phalanx. The little round bone, a sesamoid bone nearly in anatomical position. 2mya from Malapa - A sediba. Beautiful preparation by one of our outstanding preparators Bonele of the Nat Geo Rising Star Project.
Like our team, you get to be the first people in almost 2 million years to see the whole palate of the Holotype of Australopithecus sediba exposed - thanks Zandile!
September 5, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Like our team, you get to be the first people in almost 2 million years to see the whole palate of the Holotype of Australopithecus sediba exposed - thanks Zandile!
Very excited about new photographic scales from @nationalgeographic.bsky.social for archeologists, palaeontologists, photographers, geologists and forensic scientists! First Nat Geo Society scales ever! Enjoy!
July 3, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Very excited about new photographic scales from @nationalgeographic.bsky.social for archeologists, palaeontologists, photographers, geologists and forensic scientists! First Nat Geo Society scales ever! Enjoy!
A fantastic interview on eNCA news with Tebogo Makhubela celebrating his National Geographic #Wayfinder award! Well deserved and enjoy listening to the future of human origins research in #Africa - Tebogo is active on LinkedIn under Tebogo Vincent Makhubela follow him! www.enca.com/videos/wayfi...
June 28, 2025 at 6:43 PM
A fantastic interview on eNCA news with Tebogo Makhubela celebrating his National Geographic #Wayfinder award! Well deserved and enjoy listening to the future of human origins research in #Africa - Tebogo is active on LinkedIn under Tebogo Vincent Makhubela follow him! www.enca.com/videos/wayfi...
Take a look at this beautiful mandible from Swartrkans in South Africa - Skw 5. It’s what we presently call a Paranthropus robustus. Notice the “robust” mandible, large teeth and molarization of the premolars. What a lovely specimen of an ancient hominin likely between 1.5 and 2 million years old!
May 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Take a look at this beautiful mandible from Swartrkans in South Africa - Skw 5. It’s what we presently call a Paranthropus robustus. Notice the “robust” mandible, large teeth and molarization of the premolars. What a lovely specimen of an ancient hominin likely between 1.5 and 2 million years old!
A new phylogeny published! Australopithecus sediba gives rise to X-Men (in the Marvel Universe at least). @marvel @marvelcomicshqs.bsky.social @marvelentertainment.tumblr.com.web.brid.gy #xmen #Sediba #fossil #phylogenetics #malapa
May 27, 2025 at 10:09 AM
A new phylogeny published! Australopithecus sediba gives rise to X-Men (in the Marvel Universe at least). @marvel @marvelcomicshqs.bsky.social @marvelentertainment.tumblr.com.web.brid.gy #xmen #Sediba #fossil #phylogenetics #malapa
The Stw 431 pelvis is one of the few partial skeletons from Member 4 Sterkfontein. It has an unusual, flattened pelvis and is typically assigned to Australopithecus africanus and by various estimates thought to be around 2.3 million years old. #fossils #exploration #australopithecus #hominid
May 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The Stw 431 pelvis is one of the few partial skeletons from Member 4 Sterkfontein. It has an unusual, flattened pelvis and is typically assigned to Australopithecus africanus and by various estimates thought to be around 2.3 million years old. #fossils #exploration #australopithecus #hominid
MH-2 was discovered on Sept 4, 2008 at the site of Malapa. The approximately 2 million year old hominin partial skeleton has produced perhaps the most complete undistorted shoulder arm and hand of any ancient fossil human relative yet discovered. #Malapa #fossils #paleoanthropology #sediba
May 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
MH-2 was discovered on Sept 4, 2008 at the site of Malapa. The approximately 2 million year old hominin partial skeleton has produced perhaps the most complete undistorted shoulder arm and hand of any ancient fossil human relative yet discovered. #Malapa #fossils #paleoanthropology #sediba
As the @nationalgeographic.bsky.social #RisingStar team we are privileged to work in some of the most beautiful places on #earth this is the sort of view we have on a daily basis. Enjoy the beauty of #Africa and #exploration !
May 24, 2025 at 5:41 PM
As the @nationalgeographic.bsky.social #RisingStar team we are privileged to work in some of the most beautiful places on #earth this is the sort of view we have on a daily basis. Enjoy the beauty of #Africa and #exploration !
The Stw 505 skull was discovered in 1989 at the #Sterkfontein site, South Africa. It is one of the most complete skulls of an Australopithecus discovered and one with perhaps the largest cranial capacity of a “gracile” australopith. It is typically thought to be a male A. africanus
May 22, 2025 at 4:35 PM
The Stw 505 skull was discovered in 1989 at the #Sterkfontein site, South Africa. It is one of the most complete skulls of an Australopithecus discovered and one with perhaps the largest cranial capacity of a “gracile” australopith. It is typically thought to be a male A. africanus
Dr Keneiloe Molopyane has emerged as a leader in human origins research in South Africa. Part of the 2nd generations of #Undergroundastronauts working in the Dinaledi subsystem of the Rising Star project, she was instrumental in identifying the 1st burials of Homo naledi.
May 21, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Dr Keneiloe Molopyane has emerged as a leader in human origins research in South Africa. Part of the 2nd generations of #Undergroundastronauts working in the Dinaledi subsystem of the Rising Star project, she was instrumental in identifying the 1st burials of Homo naledi.
Trigger warning! Carnivorous dung beetles and a few #flies eating a #millipede alive. Do not watch if you are squeamish! Africa is not for the faint hearted.... #SouthAfrica #Dungbeetles #Africa #predators
May 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Trigger warning! Carnivorous dung beetles and a few #flies eating a #millipede alive. Do not watch if you are squeamish! Africa is not for the faint hearted.... #SouthAfrica #Dungbeetles #Africa #predators
Why we should never stop exploring!
May 20, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Why we should never stop exploring!
Ginika Ramsawak is a South African PhD student you are going to hear a lot about in the near future. She is also pivotal to the new reconstruction of the MH-1 Holotype skeleton of #Australopithecus #sediba. Her work will synthesise the study of the new fossils of the Type specimen of #sediba.
May 19, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Ginika Ramsawak is a South African PhD student you are going to hear a lot about in the near future. She is also pivotal to the new reconstruction of the MH-1 Holotype skeleton of #Australopithecus #sediba. Her work will synthesise the study of the new fossils of the Type specimen of #sediba.
MLD 10 is a fascinating piece of a #hominin cranium and skull impression recovered from #Makapansgat. Most authors assign it to Australopithecus africanus. It’s one of the few hominin remains from the early days of this field that still preserves the rock it was found in.
May 19, 2025 at 7:03 AM
MLD 10 is a fascinating piece of a #hominin cranium and skull impression recovered from #Makapansgat. Most authors assign it to Australopithecus africanus. It’s one of the few hominin remains from the early days of this field that still preserves the rock it was found in.
We are upgrading the #Malapa museum soon. Very exciting stuff to come! This video demonstrates that not only are the #hominin #fossils are famous from Malapa but so are some of the fauna - a tiny fox was used in the opening of Kong: Skull Island #kongskullisland ! Enjoy!
May 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM
We are upgrading the #Malapa museum soon. Very exciting stuff to come! This video demonstrates that not only are the #hominin #fossils are famous from Malapa but so are some of the fauna - a tiny fox was used in the opening of Kong: Skull Island #kongskullisland ! Enjoy!
Descending into a bat-filled cave in southern Gabon. Most of these appeared to be of the Minniopterus and Hipposideros genera. The mountain thrums when your hand rests against rock as the move. The potential fossil bearing cave is made rather unpleasant by their excrement… #bats #Gabon #exploration
May 16, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Descending into a bat-filled cave in southern Gabon. Most of these appeared to be of the Minniopterus and Hipposideros genera. The mountain thrums when your hand rests against rock as the move. The potential fossil bearing cave is made rather unpleasant by their excrement… #bats #Gabon #exploration
A close up of the calculus and tartar on the teeth of MH-1 from #Malapa discovered because of a CT scan showing the hollow under the 1t and 2nd molars. A paper in @nature.com by Henry et al 2012 was done on the diet of #sediba as the dental calculus had plant phytoliths that could be identified
May 15, 2025 at 10:08 AM
A close up of the calculus and tartar on the teeth of MH-1 from #Malapa discovered because of a CT scan showing the hollow under the 1t and 2nd molars. A paper in @nature.com by Henry et al 2012 was done on the diet of #sediba as the dental calculus had plant phytoliths that could be identified
Dr Job Kibii and me in front of the first remains of MH-1 (Holotype of Australopithecus #sediba from #Malapa ) recovered during Aug-Dec 2008 and the first months of 2009.. The block in the middle contains the unprepared skull Over Job’s left shoulder one can see the MH-2 skeleton.
May 15, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Check out Matthew Berger featured in Voyage.La! Well done and very proud of you! voyagela.com/interview/ri...
May 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Check out Matthew Berger featured in Voyage.La! Well done and very proud of you! voyagela.com/interview/ri...
Were there #giants in the past? The Berg Aukus femur from #Namibia is undated, but highly fossilized. It is thought to be several hundreds of thousands of years old. It is among the largest fossil bones of a #hominin ever discovered. A great mystery! #fossils #exploration #mysteries
May 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Were there #giants in the past? The Berg Aukus femur from #Namibia is undated, but highly fossilized. It is thought to be several hundreds of thousands of years old. It is among the largest fossil bones of a #hominin ever discovered. A great mystery! #fossils #exploration #mysteries
Sometimes the variation in #hominids is extraordinary. Take these two mandibles from #Sterkfontein. Do they represent a male and a female? Or is it just normal size variation? Or are they in fact two different species that share similar tooth morphology?
May 11, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Sometimes the variation in #hominids is extraordinary. Take these two mandibles from #Sterkfontein. Do they represent a male and a female? Or is it just normal size variation? Or are they in fact two different species that share similar tooth morphology?
Since I did a compilation of images of the #TaungChild, here is a compilation of the “other” faces of fossils attributed to Australopithecus africanus. These #fossils are from #Sterkfontein (STS and STW) and #Makapansgat (MLD).
May 11, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Since I did a compilation of images of the #TaungChild, here is a compilation of the “other” faces of fossils attributed to Australopithecus africanus. These #fossils are from #Sterkfontein (STS and STW) and #Makapansgat (MLD).
Refining my thoughts on "Culture as the Null Hypothesis" instead of "Natural as the Null Hypothesis"
May 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Refining my thoughts on "Culture as the Null Hypothesis" instead of "Natural as the Null Hypothesis"
One of the very first pictures (if not the first) ever taken in the Dinaledi Chamber. Taken by Steve Tucker and Rick Hunter on their first drop into the space. The image is clearly of a number of postcranial hominin remains. Yes, the scale says "For Home Sewing Aid Only"
May 9, 2025 at 4:41 PM
One of the very first pictures (if not the first) ever taken in the Dinaledi Chamber. Taken by Steve Tucker and Rick Hunter on their first drop into the space. The image is clearly of a number of postcranial hominin remains. Yes, the scale says "For Home Sewing Aid Only"