The 100-year anniversary of the Taung Child discovery will be commemorated this year by South African human evolution researchers hosting a series of events honouring the fossil’s legacy in science and culture.

Kicking things off is a webinar on Friday 7 February, the date on which the Taung Child was first revealed to the international community in 1925. The free, online event features leading South African researchers including Dr Bernhard Zipfel from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS).

“This commemoration is important to honour the first evidence of early hominins in Africa and to recognise South Africa’s role in human evolution,” says Zipfel, who heads up the repository at WITS where the Taung Child fossil is currently housed.

The anniversary is also a reminder that all humans share common origins in Africa, says Christa Kuljian from WITS, who will also be speaking at the webinar.

“This is an opportunity to review colonial thinking that influenced human evolution science a century ago, to reflect on its lasting legacy, and to learn about new developments in the field,” she says.

The Taung Child is a 2.8-million-year-old fossil discovered by workers at a limestone quarry in Taung, South Africa. It was recognised as an ancient human relative and the first known member of a new species, Australopithecus africanus, in a research paper published in 1925.

Initially, the findings were met with resistance from the international research community, which was eager to centre human origins in Europe or Asia. Scientists eventually came to accept the evidence, and all eyes turned to Africa as the birthplace of humankind.

“Centring Africa in the narrative of human evolution has led to remarkable breakthroughs in the discipline throughout the continent,” says Dr Lauren Schroeder from the University of Toronto and the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

“While the anniversary is a celebration of that, it’s also an invitation to reflect on what we hope the next 100 years of research will hold.”

Schroeder will moderate the 7 February webinar and will be joined by Zipfel and the National Heritage Council's Dr Mirriam Tawane, Robyn Humphreys from the University of the Western Cape, and Georgina Luti from HERI and UCT. Support and sponsorship comes from these institutions, as well as the Iziko Museums of South Africa, the University of Johannesburg, Ditsong Museums of South Africa, and the McGregor Museum.

The South African Journal of Science (SAJS) will also join the commemoration, with the publication on 7 February of a special issue dedicated entirely to the Taung Child. It includes articles on the consequences of collecting skulls, how heritage institutions manage artefacts, and the impact of the 'explorer' narrative on African science.

“Our aim is to show the world how many African, and especially South African, researchers there are doing outstanding work on human evolution and to inspire others to grow their research connections,” says HERI Co-director Professor Rebecca Ackermann. Ackermann, along with HERI Co-director Associate Professor Robyn Pickering, UCT’s Dr Yonatan Sahle and Schroeder, guest edited the special issue.

Efforts to engage with the Taung community around the centenary have also been made, says Ackermann, who notes that cover art for the SAJS special issue was commissioned from the Kano Creative Arts Agency in Taung. Setswana translations of all the special issue abstracts and the leader article describing its content is also provided.

“This is an example for researchers here and internationally that it’s possible to be creative in how we engage with relevant communities and communicate our work, and we hope it facilitates connection and dialogue going forward,” Ackermann says.

Commemorations of the Taung Child will extend throughout the year, including museum exhibits, educational materials, a podcast series, and a public Heritage Month event in September.

“The Taung Child anniversary isn’t just about research but shining a light on our heritage and shared origins,” says Pickering. “It is fitting, perhaps even necessary, for the story of Taung to be told by South Africans, for South Africans, and from South Africa.”