Khoisan

Africans discovered dinosaur fossils long before the term 'palaeontology' existed

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Giovedì, Gennaio 4, 2024
Natural history, Fossil, Jobaria, Science, Attention, Kem Kem Group, Ancestral Puebloans, Indigenous Australians, Khoisan, Knowledge, Painting, Tuareg people, Folklore, Time, Mastodon, Medicine, Rift valley, History, Jewellery

Over the next two centuries dinosaur palaeontology would be dominated by numerous British natural scientists.

Key Points: 
  • Over the next two centuries dinosaur palaeontology would be dominated by numerous British natural scientists.
  • We present evidence that the first dinosaur bone may have been discovered in Africa as early as 500 years before Plot’s.
  • Peering through the published and unpublished archaeological, historical and palaeontological literature, we discovered that there has been interest in fossils in Africa for as long as there have been people on the continent.
  • More often than not, the first dinosaur fossils supposedly discovered by scientists were actually brought to their attention by local guides.

Bolahla rock shelter in Lesotho

  • One of the highlights of our paper is the archaeological site of Bolahla, a Later Stone Age rock shelter in Lesotho.
  • This part of Lesotho is particularly well known for delivering the species Massospondylus carinatus, a 4 to 6 metre, long-necked and small-headed dinosaur.
  • In 1990, archaeologists working at Bolahla discovered that a finger bone of Massospondylus, a fossil phalanx, had been transported to the cave.
  • Given the current knowledge, it could have been at any time of occupation of the shelter from the 12th to 18th centuries.

Early knowledge of extinct creatures

  • In Algeria, for example, people referred to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary “Roc bird”.
  • In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the Anasazi people between AD 1000 and 1200.

Claiming credit

  • For instance, unlike the people in Europe, the Americas and Asia, indigenous African palaeontologists seem to have seldom used fossils for traditional medicine.
  • Read more:
    Rock stars: how a group of scientists in South Africa rescued a rare 500kg chunk of human history

    By exploring indigenous palaeontology in Africa, our team is putting together pieces of a forgotten past that gives credit back to local communities.


Julien Benoit receives funding from the DSI-NRF African Origins Platform program and GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences) Cameron Penn-Clarke receives funding from GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences). Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

South Africa's ANC controls eight of nine provinces - why the Western Cape will remain elusive in the 2024 elections

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Martedì, Agosto 1, 2023
ANC, Languages of Ethiopia, Politics, Leadership, Demography, Prog, Goal, History, Veteran, History of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Government, DA, Progressive Party, Running, Non-racialism, Population, United Democratic Front, Democratic Alliance, National Party, Progressive Party (South Africa), African National Congress Youth League, History of the African National Congress, United Democratic Front (South Africa), Tongue, African National Congress, Drug, Film industry, General store, Khoisan

The African National Congress (ANC), which governs South Africa, finally held its postponed Western Cape provincial elective congress in June.

Key Points: 
  • The African National Congress (ANC), which governs South Africa, finally held its postponed Western Cape provincial elective congress in June.
  • The new executive is the first elected ANC Western Cape provincial executive in six years.
  • By history and demography, the ANC in the Western Cape faces tougher challenges than anywhere else in the country.
  • A majority of coloured voters vote against the ANC, and in the Western Cape coloured voters constitute a majority of the electorate.
  • The coloured majority of the Western Cape electorate has ensured that the ANC has never won an absolute majority in that province.

Challenges and own goals

    • These were liberal activists and veterans committed to nonracialism.
    • But in the rural Western Cape, today’s DA branches are based upon the renamed National Party branches of the 20th century.
    • The first ANC Western Cape chair after 1994 was the respected Chris Nissen, a trilingual clergyman (speaking isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans) from the Presbyterian church.
    • Simultaneously, nationwide, the ANC Youth League was disbanded, and the ANC Women’s League very little in evidence.

Bottoming out?

    • The newly elected Western Cape provincial executive committee balances Africans such as Tyhalisisu and Ayanda Bam with coloureds such as Neville Delport, Sharon Davids and Derek Appel.
    • Next year’s general elections will show how far these measures have changed ANC fortunes in the Western Cape.