A nagging suspicion about the understudied interior of South Africa by HERI’s Dr Jayne Wilkins is now a Nature paper that flips the coastal narrative of human origins - and attempts to transform archaeology.

HERI's Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana and Dr Yonatan Sahle join UCT’s Department of Archaeology to make it the first Faculty of Science department with a black staff majority. The researchers share what this means to them and more in this Q&A with Rebecca Ackermann.

New research published by HERI researchers and students shows evidence that early modern humans lived in South Africa’s Kalahari Basin 105,000 years ago - and that there was abundant water on the now dry landscape.

Our #HERIspotlight continues with Rivoningo Khosa. A 2020 fellow, she studies how South Africa’s ancient landscapes evolved, and helps builds research capacity for future studies in her field.

HERI's Professor Rebecca Ackermann joins the Africa Oxford Initiative Globinar on the future of anthropology, discussing how archaeology can reinvent itself as a positive force for the continent's development.

HERI has two funding opportunities for postdoctoral students with a passion for investigating human origins, specifically South Africa’s record of human evolution. Deadline for applications is 15 January.

Our latest #HERIspotlight shines on 2020 fellow Precious Chiwara. A PhD student in archaeology from Zimbabwe, her work uncovers the early record of human evolution in South Africa’s Kalahari Basin.

Introducing the #HERIspotlight series: an ongoing series of posts that uncover our members as sources of inspiration and drivers of excellent science. Our latest spotlights University of Toronto’s Dr Lauren Schroeder.

Pulling on examples from the past, present and in her own experience, HERI’s Deputy Director Rebecca Ackermann demonstrated the racism, sexism and othering embedded in colonial science in the 5th Annual Raymond Dart Lecture with Griffith University in Australia.

In a Heritage Month digital event, HERI invited young, black South African researchers to share their experiences with the colonial language of science - and ask how we can do better.

Introducing the #HERIspotlight series, which uncover our members as sources of inspiration and drivers of excellent science. We launch with a spotlight on HERI doctoral student Robyn Humphreys.

UCT News profiles HERI’s inaugural 2020 Advancing Womxn fellows and their efforts to make a mark for science and diversity in a field that is still too homogeneous.

On Women’s Day weekend in 2019, HERI ran its first annual women’s field camp. While COVID-19 has put 2020’s camp on hold, HERI’s Dr Robyn Pickering and Dr Jayne Wilkins say it hasn’t diminished the positive experience it gave women or the value such camps can have for changing the face of palaeoanthropology in South Africa.

HERI announces Precious Chiwara-Maenzanise and Rivoningo Khosa as its inaugural Advancing Womxn fellows, recognising their research excellence and their future as leaders in the palaeosciences.

Visiting academic Elizabeth Niespolo gives an overview of her work as a geochronologist and her journey as a first-generation university graduate.

The legacies of racism and colonialism in archaeology should be acknowledged, says HERI student Robyn Humphries and its Deputy Director Rebecca Ackermann.

Homo erectus lived 200,000 - 100,000 years earlier than we thought, says new research. An international team of scientists, including HERI's Tara Edwards and its Director Dr Robyn Pickering, made the discovery by dating fossils found in the Drimolen cave system near Johannesburg.

HERI’s Dr Jayne Wilkins leads a team of global researchers to discover the archaeological significance of South Africa’s Kalahari basin. And reveals why other researchers should be looking there too.

Indonesia and South Africa share deep political, economic and cultural histories that have contributed to a lack of diversity in palaeoscience, says visiting academic Paige Madison from Arizona State University.

Visiting academic Kimberly Tommy writes about rediscovering her confidence as a scientist and a women of colour in academia during her visit to HERI.