Wits, Lee Berger and the discovery of Australopithecus sediba

Professor Lee Berger, Reader in Evolution and the Public Understanding of Science from the Evolutionary Sciences Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, made one of the most important archeological discoveries when he unearthed Australopithecus sediba at the Malapa caves in 2008.

So, what is the University of the Witwatersrand, who is Lee Berger and why is Australopithecus sediba important?

The University of the Witwatersrand, also known as Wits, is one of the leading international higher education institutions in the world. It is one of only two universities from Africa ranked in three separate international rankings as a leading institution in the world.

Wits is home to Africa’s greatest heritage and is renowned for its commitment to uncovering and preserving the knowledge of the Origins of Humankind. Local research at Wits in the evolutionary sciences has a global impact and Wits has a distinct international reputation as a leading entity in the evolutionary sciences, based on its heritage, location, assets, tradition in the field, fossil collections and the existing funding and support that it enjoys from key partners.

The university acquired the Sterkfontein site in the 1960s. These world-famous limestone caves are rich in archaeological material and have also been declared a World Heritage Site. Then in 1968, the university purchased Swartkrans farm, also a rich source of archaeological material.

The lead author of the paper entitled Australopithecus sediba: A New Species of Homo-like Australopith from South Africa, Berger is an award-winning researcher, author and speaker.

His discovery of Australopithecus sediba – a partial skeleton of a boy believed to be about 13 years old – shed important light on the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens.

Berger and 26 other authors from 16 different institutions published six papers in the prestigious journal Science on 12 April 2013.

In essence, the six studies describe how the two-million-year-old Australopithecus sediba walked, chewed and moved, and are the culmination of more than four years of research into the anatomy of Australopithecus sediba based on the holotype and paratype skeletons commonly referred to as MH1 and MH2, as well as the adult isolated tibia referred to as MH4.

The fossil remains were discovered at the site of Malapa in August 2008, and the species was named in 2010 by Berger and his colleagues.

The papers are entitled: Dental morphology and the phylogenetic “place” of Australopithecus sediba; Mandibular Remains Support Taxonomic Validity of Australopithecus sediba; The Upper Limb of Australopithecus sediba; Mosaic Morphology in the Thorax of Australopithecus sediba; The Vertebral Column of Australopithecus sediba; and The Lower Limb and the Mechanics of Walking in Australopithecus sediba, with the introduction entitled The Mosaic Anatomy of Australopithecus sediba.

Berger summarises that Australopithecus sediba provides us with the most comprehensive examination of the anatomy of a definitive single species of early hominin. “This examination of a large number of associated, often complete and undistorted elements, gives us a glimpse of a hominin species that appears to be mosaic in its anatomy and that presents a suite of functional complexes that are both different from that predicted for other australopiths, as well as that for early Homo.

Berger concludes: “Discoveries such as Australopithecus sediba and the Malapa site demonstrate the need for further African based exploration in the rich fossil fields of southern Africa, and additionally demonstrate the tremendous promise of the palaeosciences on the continent.”