Join us as we chat with Stephanie Baker, head of the Drimolen site where Paranthropus Robustus seem to have made a home, recovering almost a full cranium!

Be sure to check out the rest of our site, and watch all of our other interviews! We have met with some great people!

If youre interested in appearing on the show shoot us an email at worldofpaleoanthropology@Gmail.com

Wow our fifteenth interview! Its amazing how far we have come and seeing the amazing people on our show, and reading their written interviews!

Here is to a bright future!

Today we are releasing publicly (It was released early on our Patreon) our interview with Professor Agustin Fuentes of Princeton University!

We are very excited for this chat and we know that you will love it!

Please enjoy:

If you would like to have the chance to appear on the show, please email us at worldofpaleoanthropology@gmail.com. It can be about anything related to the field that you are qualified to speak about.

If you want to support what we do, like run this website, host all these interviews, book reviews etc. and want to see us expand and make better quality content, AND GAIN EARLY ACCESS to content, check out our Patreon,

I hope you enjoy it, and have a wonderful time everyone!

Hello again Everybody! Happy Anthropology Day!

It is that time again, now that we have had a steady flow of guests, for another interview or chat as we like to call them (we dont want to scare anyone off after all).

This time we were delighted to host James Cole, a professor at the University of Brighton in the UK, and expert on early lithic tools.

We were delighted to have him, and you can catch that here!

Next week on Thursday we will be posting our interview with Dr. Agustin Fuentes of Princeton University and we are VERY excited about that!

If you are interested in helping support us and get new equipment and services, you can donate to sethchagi@icloud.com via paypal.

Thanks everyone!

Be sure not to miss this special interview with South African, and native to the Cradle of Human Kind, Zandile!

Check in with us to hear about all of her work on various fossil localities and with our beloved Lee Berger!

Check it out here:

Enjoy!

If you would like to be interviewed, i.e just chat, email me at worldofpaleoanthropology@gmai.com

Well, this was a fun read for sure, no doubt about it. A book filled with big emotions, big opinions, and many technical details and facts.
In Fossil Men by Kermit Pattison, we hear the story of Tim White, a professor of Paleoanthropology, and his work in the field over the last five decades.

A massive personality in the field, and arbiter of strict science and technical absoluteness. Most known for his work on the skeleton known as Ardi, an Ardipithecus ramidus that he named, he is a very controversial figure. And for many reasons. This book delves into not only the science behind Ardi, as so she is nicknamed, as well as the very powerfully compelling and controversial behaviors and personalities of those involved in the field.

From a different perspective than we usually get (that of the scientist), we get the view of Mr. Pattison, a friend, and colleague of Dr. White.
To understand the place this book has, we must understand some of the dynamics in Paleoanthropology.

Traditionally, when a scientist makes a discovery, based on the country of origins laws, they are allowed exclusive access to the specimen, such as when Tim White and his team discovered Ardi in the Middle Awash in Ethiopia.

However, lately with recent discoveries, Open Access (which we fully support) is occurring where data and the fossils are being shared so scientists from all over the world can work on them, vs. a small team.
The book goes over how Prof. White and his team explored this amazing skeleton, the challenges they had to go through, both from within the team and from the fossils themselves, to the pressures from the outside world to publish and to share what they had.

Who is to say which model is right? For so long we have done one thing, but perhaps it is time for a change.

In this book, bitter rivalries are highlighted, such as the one between renowned Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, who was the head of the Sediba, Naledi, and 105 site teams, and Tim, as well as many other conflicts between Tim and Don Johansson, the Leakey Clan, and pretty much everyone else.

It seems the book is always trying to defend Tim White from his behavior. Tim burns bridges, he does not build them and this book makes that abundantly clear while at the same time trying to make him appear like the sociable one.

Tim White is an amazing scientist, and no one would doubt that he has strong opinions, some of which have good backing while others are more of his own forced opinions on the field.

As a senior in the field, he is looked up to, revered, but also loathed, and sometimes even hated by his colleagues and students.

While his contributions and the work he has done on Ardi, Lucy, and the First Family, Laetoli, and so much more cannot be doubted, it is, in the opinion of this student and anthropologist, that this book does nothing but highlight the fact that Tim White and the anthropologist that are on his side of the aisle represent and old, and dying version of anthropology. One that cannot work in this world, and one that stops the spread and speed of science.

We cannot hoard our discoveries, free and open science is the best way to do our science and answer the questions we have come to ask.
To this day most anthropologists, even seniors in the field have not seen Ardi, and probably never will. This is wrong and is not how science should be done. But this is the current state of affairs.

Some call this “cut-throat anthropology” and maybe it is, there are a lot of big personalities working together and against each other here, but either way and wherever you find yourself on the isle, this books is a great look into Tim White’s world, and a look at Ardi like you probably will not get anywhere else.

I highly recommend this book, and suggest you add it to your reading list!

We are proud and excited to announce that we are now on Patreon!

We are doing this to raise money not only for equipment that we need to continue doing the work that we do, but to expand our project and do some pretty awesome things.

First off we need new equipment, a webcam, a mic, etc, We have web hosting fees etc. But we want to do things, and we want to support causes that are important to our community. So we are excited to announce our patreon!

This is going to be a big change for this website and blog, WE WILL NO LONGER BE POSTING NEW CONTENT HERE.

IT WILL ALL BE ON THE PATREON.

BUT, it will still all be 100% free and public, the only benefit of becoming a patron, at least on tier one, is getting early access to the content, for today we are posting our review of Fossil Men, it will be publicly available in three days.

So why pay for it? Well to support science and STEM of course! Getting three days early access may not seem like much, and it may not be but its for a good cause!

And the higher the tier you choose the more you get! So go check it out, and bookmark our new site!

https://www.patreon.com/Worldofpaleoanth

After waiting a good long time, (John is a very busy man) I was finally able to (virtually) sit down with the man and get some good questions in.

John tells us his stories, and they are enthralling, one thing that you will find after watching, is that he found out how powerful the idea of storytelling is and what role it can play in education.

John is one of my personal heroes and is one of my motivations for my fight for open access education.

Please enjoy!

Join us this time as we meet up with Keneiloe Molopyane, curator of the Maropeng Museum of Human Origins in South Africa!

She is a member of the original Rising Star caving team, and has been working closely with Lee Berger ever since, more recently she has been working on a site called the 105 site in the cradle, and is helping preparations and excavations there as she prepares to take over the site from Professor Berger.

Join us for a chat!

Let us know what you think in the comments below and if you want to be a guest on the show let us know by emailing us at worldofpaleoanthropology@gmail.com!

The Sediments of Time, a book written by Meave Leakey (Yes those Leakey’s) with her daughter Samira is a look into the history of modern Paleoanthropology from her perspective as some of the greatest archaeological finds of all time were made.

From the discovery, excavation and preparation of the Turkana Boy, as well as many other erectus fossils found all over the larger Turkana region, Koobi Fora, and other localities.

Fossils from all across Africa are chronicled in this book, all from the perspective of a young WOMEN in the STEM field. Its a perspective that is both rare and welcoming as most stories and recollections from the time are from their male counterparts, which is great but its a nice change.

The books goes over the personal life of the Leakey’s at the time, from Meave getting hired on by Louis and eventually marrying Richard, nursing him through the loss of his legs, and even giving him a kidney. A story of true love follows these two as they adventure around the wilds of Africa following Richards pursuits. But Meave was never far behind, in fact in some cases she was in front, leading her own expeditions when Richard couldn’t, or when he had to take up position with the ranger service.

This books is not a technical biological review of the evolution of humans, while human evolution is a prevailing theme, and is all that is talked about, it is what is between the lines that make this book stand out against the crowd when it comes to books on paleoanthropology.

The Leakey Family is famous for all that they have contributed, and continue to contribute to the community of paleontologists, archaeologists, and scientists who study and try to answer the same initial questions that Louis Leakey set out to answer oh so long ago.

This is a great read if you want to hear about the story of these amazing finds, and learn the history of where we are today.

Don’t miss out on this one.

Welcome to our next interview! And with the prolific and wonderful Professor John Hawks!

I do hope you enjoy our chat, and remember if you or someone you know is interested in appearing on the show have them contact us at worldofpaleoanthropology@gmail.com and we can set something up!

Enjoy!