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The skull of the young male Australopithecus sediba rests near the spot where he died, amid rocks he may have walked on in life.
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Paleoanthropologists Lee Berger (far left) and Job Kibii confer while excavators search for bones near the Malapa cave. Skeletons from the site are "the Rosetta stone to the origin of Homo," says Berger.
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Today the eroded cave of Malapa lies on a slope above a grassy plain.
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Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger rests on a hill at the Malapa site near Johannesburg, South Africa, with his son, Matthew, and their dog Tau. The trio were walking through the area in 2008 when Matthew found a fossil bone. His father identified it as part of a two-million-year-old collarbone: the first clue to Australopithecus sediba.
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Death trap caves litter the region around Malapa, such as this one at Sterkfontein. This famous site has yielded numerous Australopithecus remains, including a remarkable skeleton called Little Foot, still under excavation.
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Two skeletons from the Malapa site rank among the most complete finds in a science mostly defined by scattered bones. The adult female (following image) and young male (above) may have been closely related. The remarkably well-preserved hand of the female shows the capacity to bring thumb and fingers together. With this precision grip, she could have used and made tools.
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Skeleton of an adult female Austalopithecus found at the Malapa site
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Lab technician Celeste Yates carefully prepares three connected vertebrae from the adult female A. sediba specimen. Finding pieces of the spinal column joined together eliminates guesswork over how they articulated in life. Features of the spine, pelvis, and legs indicate an upright, two-legged gait.
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Paleoanthropologist Kristian Carlson consults scans of the Malapa male's skull, revealing brain features never seen before in a hominin so ancient.
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Reflecting national pride in the Malapa find, artists and castmakers Mabote Boy Louw and Given Fortune Bongani Nkosi paint an evolutionary mural in Mamelodi township.
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Schoolchildren get a lesson on evolutionary history at the visitor center of the South African World Heritage site called the Cradle of Humankind, named for pre-human fossils found in the area in the last century. Recent discoveries at Malapa, which lies within the heritage site, have kindled a wave of national pride.
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