{"id":122433,"date":"2018-09-11T18:47:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/what-would-it-mean-to-decolonise-palaeontology-here-are-some-ideas-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2018-09-11T18:47:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:47:38","slug":"what-would-it-mean-to-decolonise-palaeontology-here-are-some-ideas-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/what-would-it-mean-to-decolonise-palaeontology-here-are-some-ideas-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"What would it mean to decolonise palaeontology? Here are some ideas | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

What would it mean to decolonise palaeontology? Here are some ideas<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The fossil of a Mesosaurus tenuidens, which provided important clues about tectonic shifts.<\/span> Courtesy of Philippe Loubry – CNRS\/MNHN<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The call by students to \u201cdecolonise science\u201d still rings in many South African academics\u2019 ears. But discussions about what t might entail, or even if it\u2019s necessary, are fraught. <\/p>\n

In many cases, that\u2019s not because scientists don\u2019t want to reduce the footprint of Western culture on their field of research. Instead, it\u2019s because science is fundamentally meant to be universal. In a perfect world, science would know no cultural or racial discrimination. However, as centuries of scientific racism or European exceptionalism remind us, this isn\u2019t a perfect world.<\/p>\n

In palaeontology there isn\u2019t a simple answer to questions about what a decolonised version of the field might look like. But certainly part of it must involve acknowledging Africa\u2019s original fossil hunters, without whom a number of major finds might not have occurred. These were indigenous people who collected fossil shells, teeth and bones that have provided critical clues about our origins. <\/p>\n

In most cases, these people seldom received credit for their finds. In the past, European researchers, who led many fossil expeditions in Africa, often didn\u2019t bother to mention indigenous people\u2019s contributions, an attitude that would not be tolerated anymore. <\/p>\n

Ancient fossil hunters<\/h2>\n

When it comes to the history of African palaeontology, a few famous names come to mind: Louis and Mary Leakey; Robert Broom and Raymond Dart.<\/p>\n

All of their finds were extremely important. But plenty of fossil finds happened in the preceding centuries. After all humankind was born on African soil. And people have roamed the continent for centuries \u2013 and they collected fossils along the way. Sometimes these fossils had a practical purpose, like being used as a pot lid; sometimes they were imbued with magical properties; and sometimes they were used for decoration.<\/p>\n

Many South African sites dating back about 40 000 years ago to the Middle Stone Age indicate that trilobites \u2013 small fossilised relatives of crabs and lobsters \u2013 were found and transported dozens of kilometres away from their sites of origin by hunter-gatherers. Palaeontologists hypothesize the hunter-gatherers either liked the aesthetic of the fossils, or considered them of religious or medicinal importance.<\/p>\n

A transported fossil elephant molar at Congo\u2019s famous Ishango site suggests our ancestors were aware of the presence of unidentifiable animal remains in their surrounding.<\/p>\n

And, as early as 300 000 years ago, the earliest Homo sapiens<\/em> were collecting fossil sea shells in Morocco. The fossils in question were rather phallic, so it\u2019s been hypothesised that they were involved in some kind of fertility ritual. <\/p>\n

Some may say that this was not formal palaeontology. The French palaeontologist Georges Cuvier, who lived from 1769 to 1832, is usually credited as the discipline\u2019s founding father. But it clearly demonstrates that some kind of palaeontological knowledge already existed when the first explorers from overseas arrived on the continent.<\/p>\n

No credit given<\/h2>\n

Most people credit the son of a magistrate with the first discovery of a fossil in South Africa\u2019s Karoo region, in 1827. But a closer look at the archives reveals that an unnamed Griqua person may actually deserve the title. <\/p>\n

Some time in the early 1820s this person discovered the fossil of a Mesosaurus<\/em>, a small reptile that lived some 280 million years ago. <\/p>\n

The Mesosaurus<\/em>\u2018 fossil presence in both Southern Africa and, later, South America, provided crucial evidence that the earth\u2019s tectonic plates can shift. <\/p>\n

The original collector, whose name was never recorded, is mentioned in passing in a report about the finding by the Frenchman who brought the fossil to Paris. We don\u2019t know if the original collector was paid.<\/p>\n

When thinking about how important this fossil became for science, it is sad to think that the original collector, who recognised there was some importance to what others might have dismissed as a useless rock, will never receive the credit he or she deserves for this discovery.<\/p>\n

Recognising the unheralded<\/h2>\n

A first step to begin decolonising palaeosciences in Africa would be to give credit where it\u2019s due. The unnamed Griqua collector was just one among many.<\/p>\n

There is some work being done to ensure that this practice doesn\u2019t continue. For example the two technicians who discovered the famous Australopithecus<\/em> Little Foot, Nkwane Molefe and Stephen Motsumi, have been amply credited for their effort. <\/p>\n

And in 2016 the National Museums of Kenya hailed \u201cAfrica\u2019s unsung heroes in prehistory\u201d by honouring technical staff and their important behind the scenes work.<\/p>\n

My colleagues and I at the University of the Witwatersrand\u2019s Evolutionary Studies Institute are also working on changing the narrative, such as by hosting a lecture series about South Africa\u2019s first, and largely unacknowledged, fossil hunters.<\/p>\n

This sort of initiative could be replicated elsewhere as a way to honour African fossil collectors\u2019 long history and important ongoing contributions to our understanding of the ancient world.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Julien Benoit receives funding from the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences and the Palaeontological Scientific Trust.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
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What would it mean to decolonise palaeontology? Here are some ideas: The fossil of a Mesosaurus tenuidens, which provided important clues about tectonic shifts. Courtesy of Philippe Loubry – CNRS\/MNHN The call by students to \u201cdecolonise science\u201d still rings in many South African academics\u2019 ears. But discussions about what t might entail, or even if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[8890,19154,7225,8886,13032,32268,3431,5494],"class_list":{"0":"post-122433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-conversation","8":"tag-decolonise","9":"tag-here","10":"tag-ideas","11":"tag-mean","12":"tag-palaeontology","13":"tag-some","14":"tag-would","15":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}