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!

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

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).