The Rising Star (Homo naledi) Interviews

During July of 2015 I was fortunate to be able to spend two weeks at the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa with a remarkable group of scientists and explorers. As followers of this blog know I have been following and supporting the work of the Rising Star expedition which discovered and recovered a huge collection of hominin fossil bones starting in November, 2013. Indeed the open access nature of that excavation allowed my students and I to follow the hour by hour updates on Twitter which led to he creation of what's become known as the "Twitter Play by Play" of the excavation - you can access that resource HERE.

My recent visit allowed me to get to know many of the Rising Star team members and I was struck by the immense dedication and teamwork these varied researchers and explorers shared with me. That has led me to interview members of the team so that you can get a taste for how a great team can work cooperatively in a complex endeavor to make the most of what is a groundbreaking fossil discovery. All interviews were conducted by me either in the entrance chamber of the Rising Star cave, at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, or via Skype.  With the PBS/NOVA/National Geographic documentary about this discovery ("Dawn of Humanity") set to air on September 16th, I hope these interviews will allow you different and possible deeper view into the people and personas that made this expedition such a success.

This page will be continually updated with new interviews as they become available so please bookmark this page and come back often for updates!

Dr. Lee Berger & Dr. John Hawks discuss the discovery and significance of Homo naledi 

Interview #11 - Matthew & Megan Berger - Fossil photography and caving support

Interview #10 - Marina Elliott - Lead excavator

Interview # 9 - Hannah Morris - Primary excavator

Interview # 8 - Alia Gurtov - Primary excavator & Rising Star Workshop Member

Interview # 7 - Lindsay Hunter - Primary excavator

Interview # 6 - Becca Peixotto - Primary excavator

 Interview #5 - Elen Feuerriegel - Primary excavator and Rising Star Workshop Member

Interview #4 - Maropeng Ramalepa  and Dirk Van Rooyen. - Exploration Technicians

Interview #3 - Nompumelelo Hlophe - Exploration Technician

Interview #2 - Rick Hunter  - Exploration Technician and one of the original "discoverers" of the fossil chamber.

Interview #1 - Steven Tucker  - Exploration Technician and one of the original "discoverers" of the fossil chamber.

Off to South Africa!

Greetings Blue Lion friends! This post is to give you a preview of what’s going to be happening on the Blue Lion Blog over the coming weeks. I am in the process of getting ready to depart on a 3 week trip to South Africa that I am looking forward to sharing with all of you. 

The first part of my trip will occur once I land in South Africa from July 6th – 12th. I’ll be spending that time at the unique NThambo Tree Camp – a really interesting small safari camp located in the Klaserie Nature Preserve just west of Kruger National Park. This camp attracted me because of its small size and very small eco footprint as the camp only houses a maximum of 10 guests in 5 rooms (or “chalets” as they are called). Each of these chalets is basically a high quality tent that sits atop a 20 foot tall platform. I’m excited at the possibility of having any of the wildlife in the area potentially sleeping under my floor on any given night!  Check out this video that was shot in May of a Cheetah kill that was next to the chalet I’ll be staying in! 

Promo video for Nthambo Tree Camp

While at NThambo I’ll do my best to share images and video, but WiFi connection in the South African bush are pretty spotty, even on a good day. 

On July 12th I’ll fly back to Johannesburg and have a great opportunity to reconnect with Dr. Lee Berger and his team at Wits University. During my time here, I will be working to help develop curricular materials surrounding the Rising Star Expedition’s discoveries from 2013. The over 1700 fossils that were recovered during a challenging month long excavation in a cave located within the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg.  During the expedition in November 2013 Dr. Berger's team live tweeted the daily events and I then created a "Twitter Play by Play" which is here on the blog - Rising Star Expedition Blog Post - 11/2013 . You'll hopefully hear about results of Rising Star in the news once the findings are officially published in scientific journals.

During my time there I will be studying fossils from Rising Star as well as the nearby site of Malapa where Australopithecus sediba was discovered in 2009. I will also be interviewing researchers involved with both projects so that my future students, fellow teachers, and the general public can gain a better appreciation of the science and the scientific process behind such discoveries. 

Skull of "Karabo" a young male Australopithecus sediba individual.

Please feel free to revisit the Blue Lion Blog to stay updated on my my photographic & scientific adventures this coming month. Also feel free to post comments and questions below. I’ll do my best to reply! 

Rising Star Expedition

  

For those of you who know me well you know I have a lifelong passion for paleoanthropology - the study of early human and human like fossils. I had the great thrill to spend a week last July in Dr. Lee Berger's lab in Johannesburg, South Africa. I had the chance to see the detailed work that is going on regarding his signature discovery, the 2 million year old specimens of the new species Australopithecus sediba which he and his son Matthew discovered in 2009.

This past week his team began the process of retrieving fossils from deep (30 meters down) in a cave located in the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg. The team has been doing a GREAT job of sharing their discovery in real time through Twitter. Seeing the work happen like this is amazing and I have been sharing it with my middle and high school students. I have begun creating a daily video update of relevant tweets from teh team to give sort of a "play by play" for those without access or the inclination to use Twitter. Below you will find my videos - feel free to get caught up and experience Science in the making! 

UPDATE (September 2015) - With the results of the Rising Star Expedition soon to be released, I had the chance to visit the Rising Star cave and work with many of the team members.  I interviewed them and many of those interviews can be found at THE RISING STAR INTERVIEWS page here on the Blue Lion Blog. 

Listen to Lindsay Eaves Describe the thrill of getting the skull from the deepest part of the Rising Star Cave to the surface! 

"ACCIO SKULL!"

Thanks so much for sharing this Lindsay!  

I'll be adding new updates and links about the Rising Star Expedition in this space as time progresses! 

• The Nat Geo Rising Star Expedition Blog  
• Lee Berger's Twitter Feed
• Rising Star Expedition's Twitter Feed
• John Hawk's Twitter Feed
• Lindsay Eaves Twitter Feed
• Elen Feuerriegel's Twitter Feed
• Alia Gurtov's Twitter Feed
• Mail and Guardian article detailing the end of Rising Star 2013
• TrowelBlazers Profiles of the 6 Advance Scientists
• Lee Berger's Interview with Boyd Matson on National Geographic Weekend Radio Show - A MUST listen ! 
• Catherine Brahic's superb overview of the Rising Star Expedition from the New Scientist- A great update from November, 2014.