Homo naledi is a symbol of our common ancestry on a continent that has much to offer the world with its wealth of palaeontological treasures, writes David Makhura.
In celebrating National Heritage Day, Gauteng MECs and I had the privilege of starting the day at the Maropeng Visitor Centre at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
We were accompanied by members of the diplomatic corps including the deputy ambassador of Kenya and the high commissioner of Malawi, where important hominin finds have also been made. The deputy ambassador of France, the home to the World Heritage Committee of Unesco, was present as was the UK high commissioner and the US ambassador.
Together with Professor Beatrys Lacquet, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, and Professor Lee Berger, who led the international team of more than 60 scientists, Professor Paul Dirks and Professor John Hawks, I had the opportunity to present casts of the skull, hand and foot of Homo naledi to our foreign representatives for display in their national museums.
In fact Homo naledi is already travelling the world, occupying pride of place in a temporary exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, which opened on September 25.
Berger also presented Homo naledi at a public lecture at the Perot Museum in Dallas in the US on September 28.
We expect that Homo naledi will travel the world and, I daresay, scientists will have to tell us how widely she travelled the world in the past.
On September 10, the day the news was announced, we were in Italy, watching the announcement of the science emanating from our country and our continent take the world by storm.
We arrived back to find a sea of change at Maropeng, with visitor numbers having exceeded 30 000 since the day of the announcement, a mix across age, race and income groups, truly reflecting our national motto, !ke e: /xarra //ke, united in our diversity. People who would never before have thought of visiting the site have come.
Often the impetus for this has been schoolchildren, who have encountered human evolution in the curriculum and who may have visited the site before. They are now insisting that their parents join them in seeing these magnificent fossils, which are likely to change entirely the way in which palaeontologists view human lineage.
The discovery of Homo naledi reasserts one central message, that we have a common heritage, a common ancestry. It also raises the question, what is it to be human?
What is the difference between a human being and another animal that up to now we have not been calling human?
There has been some debate since the announcement and scientists will answer the questions being asked, using scientific methods.
The scientists can have their arguments and in the scientific world, controversy is the name of the game.
What we know is that a new species of primitive hominin in our own genus was discovered, comprising the relatively complete skeletons of 15 individuals, in one cave with a single entrance.
Unlike with other discoveries, the individuals are not found in association with other plant and animal remains – making the find, even for those asking questions of the scientists, truly remarkable.
The scientists have worked since 2013 to unravel the mystery and have provided us with a hypothesis that will change our way of thinking about early life forms.
Even those of us who are not scientists are fascinated – and anything that points to the fact that we have a common humanity is good for us. Anything that affirms the story that Africa is the Cradle of Humankind is good for us.
We should celebrate the discourse in science. We must celebrate the debate, but those of us who are in the arts, humanities and politics can also celebrate Homo naledi precisely because it reaffirms the story that we have a common ancestry and a common humanity.
To quote Professor Berger, “these are human relatives”. Perhaps that boundary will be broken: we cannot necessarily say we are better or superior. Homo naledi challenges us and gives us an opportunity to contemplate our humanity.
Perhaps they were human in their own way, maybe even better human beings. They may not have resorted to violence, they may not have resorted to solving complex problems with the catastrophic consequence evidenced by the methods used by our species.
This scientific discovery helps us to debunk the myths that divide us, including notions of racial and gender superiority. Science is a tool to help us advance.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that it is never used to undermine others based on superficial differences of race and gender and, on our continent, to undermine what Africa can offer to the world.
We in Africa are privileged to have palaeontological sites in abundance, particularly in the east and north. The popularly known “Lucy” and “Turkana Boy” discoveries in Kenya are well-known human relatives. We also have sites of early civilisations such as Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe.
The Egyptian pyramids represent the use of advanced science and architecture.
The Timbuktu manuscripts are an invaluable contribution to understanding humanity, and the evolution and development of human society.
Africa truly is the crucible of human origins, but the continent has historically been plundered for raw materials.
Ironically, it was the mining of dolomites that first led to the discovery of fossils at Sterkfontein.
Africa is undoubtedly the global leader in the palaeosciences. We are privileged to share the knowledge, the science and the new opportunities for palaeotourism with the world.
Our newfound ambassador, Homo naledi, is a citizen of the world. We are proud that in Africa we can discover who we are and contemplate what the future holds in a most profound way.
*Makhura is Gauteng Premier
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent