GALLERY: A temple of treasure
BRAAMFONTEIN — Wits opens one of the largest fossil vaults, boasting decades of scientific research.
Wits University officially opened the new Phillip V Tobias Fossil Primate and Hominid Laboratory on 21 July in Braamfontein.
Dubbed as one of the biggest fossil vaults in Africa, Professor Bruce Rubidge acknowledged that many ground breaking discoveries have been made in South Africa and that a majority of them were made at the university.
“We are extremely proud of the advancement of paleo-research and will look to continue the work of the late Professor Phillip Tobias.”
Attended by delegates, professors and researchers; the event introduced large fossil vault housing thousands of findings and enabling more research in the field.
Wits Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib said the vault housed the scientific foundation of the oneness of humanity. “Phillip Tobias reminded us of this. In a world where humanity is so divided, this foundation must constantly be built upon.”
Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom called on young people to get into the field of scientific research. He said, “There needs to be development in the national network of palaeontology studies. We must recognise the value of what we have to share with the world and develop heritage tourism in the country.”
The vault boasts fossils from all around the world with the skull of the Taung Child right in the epi-centre of the room, as the piece that began the entire project.
“We are already one of the most used facilities in Africa. We have doubled the number of fossils here in 18 months”. Professor Lee Berger concluded that the vault was a place of beauty that honoured our ancestors. “This is Africa’s gift to the world-humanity,” he said.
