Australopithecus sediba fossils set up at Maropeng – photo essay

Sep 11, 2011 | Bianca Bothma

Until September 25, visitors can see the original fossils of Australopithecus sediba at the Maropeng Visitor Centre. Setting up the fossils is a complicated process as curators need to make sure that these millions-of-years-old specimens remain intact and well preserved for visitors to view at the exhibition.

This new display, More secrets of sediba revealed, coincides with the publishing of five new papers in the American journal, Science, on astonishing new findings on Australopithecus sediba.

This research was done by a team of more than 80 people around the world; it was led by Professor Lee Berger, Reader in Human Evolution at the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The following photo essay shows the work involved in setting up the exhibition:

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The maintenance team at Maropeng carrying the display case, which weighs 400kg
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A poster at the exhibition allows you to measure your size against Australopithecus sediba
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Professor Lee Berger sets out the original fossils with Bonita de Klerk
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From left to right: Curator of Collections at Wits University Dr Bernhard Zipfel, Maropeng Curator Lindsay Marshall and Maropeng MD Tony Rubin
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The original fossils of Australopithecus sediba will be on display at Maropeng until September 25