We set out with our host's car to visit the Sterkfontein Caves but ended up at Maropeng, the museum pictured here, which is just a few km from the caves. Let's just say, we really should have visited the caves as they house thousands of early hominid fossils, including the first hominid fossil who came to be known as Mrs. Ples. We thought the fossils were in the museum, not in the caves... silly us!
Still, the museum was a blast. Maarten and I paid our admission fee, hopped in the indoor boat that takes you through a variety of ages (let me tell you, the ice age was a trip!) and toured the museum with enthusiasm. Our enthusiasm was key, because we quickly discovered that the museum is better visited with children. Still, I think we'd agree that we learned a little something! I particularly enjoyed the skull and jaw bone fossil replicas from homo neanderthal and homo ergaster due to their relevance to the study of the evolution of language--something I covered in depth in the class I taught at NU.
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