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Postcard from South Africa #2.

Monday 4th May. Another emotional day in South Africa. We drove up from Joburg this morning heading for Mokopane and the archaeological and palaeontological sites at Makapansgat, now known as Makapan. The name will need little introduction to human origins students. The Limeworks cave is famous throughout the world. It was here that Raymond Dart identified Australopithecus prometheus, a fire using Australopith, later reclassified as A. africanus. Continue reading →

Postcard from South Africa, #1.

Saturday 2nd May. I’m here in South Africa helping Andante Travels, who specialise in heritage and historical tourism, design a tour that would reflect some of the key aspects of South Africa’s rich archaeological heritage. It goes without saying that no tour could ever hope to fully reflect the sheer scale and diversity of this beautiful country and its history. So our job is to pick a few key moments from it. Continue reading →

Ancient skeleton shows leprosy may have spread to Britain from Scandinavia

An international team, including archaeologists from the University of Southampton, has found evidence suggesting leprosy may have spread to Britain from Scandinavia. The team, led by former Southampton PhD student Sarah Inskip, now at the University of Leiden, and including researchers from Historic England and the Universities of Southampton, Birmingham, Surrey, and Swansea, examined a 1500 year old male skeleton, excavated at Great Chesterford in Essex, England during the 1950s. Continue reading →

Postcard from South Africa #4

Today we make the long drive from the border down to the south of Kruger and sadly neither Clare nor I are able to share in the driving so it is all on poor Johan, but he is very laid back about it all. As you’ll expect from me by now, the prospect of a long drive across South Africa is something I am looking forward to. But first a real treat. A bush walk with Brigitta who showed us Koaxa’s Shelter yesterday. Continue reading →

Photo Competition

We Know you took a selfie with that trench section! We won’t judge your for it..too harshly. The PGRAS 2015 PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION is live! Send your favorite archaeology photos to pgrsymposium@gmail.com by May 10th! All photos will go on display during PGRAS 20-21 May, putting you in the running to win a once-in-a-low-budget-annual-symposium prize! The categories are open to your own interpretation – the only limits are your creativity. Continue reading →

Book Sale and Cake Sale

Do you have books gathering dust at home? Give them a new home! Consider donating your old books to this year’s charity book sale, taking place during the symposium May 20-21. You can find donation boxes in the Archaeology coffee room or near the reception desk at Avenue Campus, building 65. If you like baking and love showing off your creations consider baking a cake for the PGRAS bake sale! If you would like to make something email us at pgrsymposium@gmail. Continue reading →

Postcard from South Africa #3

We were supposed to have an early start this morning so we could make good time as we head north for the border – guess who blew it! Yup yours truly set the alarm wrong. A timely call from Clare who couldn’t quite hold back the giggling got me out of bed and off to breakfast in a hurry. Johan bundled me and my stuff into the bus and off we went. Once again the drive was an instruction as Johan filled in all the gaps in the landscape with stories and titbits of local history. Continue reading →