The boy who discovered a new species of human ancestor

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 15 August 2008, nine-year-old Matt Berger tripped over a fossil that would lead to one of the most important discoveries in the history of human evolution. The young adventurer had been exploring the Cradle of Humankind, in South Africa, with his father Lee, a paleoanthropologist. "I didn't really know what was happening. I was just there for fun. But my dad was so excited. So obviously that made me excited too," said Matt. The fossil turned out to be from a new species of hominid called Australopithecus sediba. Matt speaks to Vicky Farncombe about his memories of the day. (Photo: Matt Berger, son of Prof Lee Berger, found the fossil of a new hominid species that lived 1.95 million years ago. Credit: Foto24/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Vicki
0:09.5	Vankham.
0:10.5	I'm taking you back 15 years to an a nine year old boy stumbled upon a prehistoric fossil
0:17.0	that would change our understanding of how humans evolved.
0:22.2	We got up early, probably around 6, 6, 30.
0:26.1	We got into my dad's car, my dad had a very distinct dark green teeth and so that's
0:30.2	kind of how I remember always getting out there as a child.
0:33.4	We would drive 45 minutes out, I'd be half asleep in the back of the car because it'd
0:36.9	be so early.
0:37.9	It's the 15th of August, 2008, a nine year old Matt Berger is looking forward to another
0:44.3	day's exploring with his dad Lee.
0:47.3	Their destination is the cradle of humankind near Johannesburg in South Africa.
0:52.4	The world heritage site is famous for having the largest concentration of human ancestral
0:57.7	remains anywhere in the world.
1:00.2	Usually on the drive we would always see different types of animals, so there'd be a small
1:04.6	herd of giraffe or huge troops of the boons, maybe 150 boons, lots of kudu running around
1:11.9	which are type of antelope.
1:12.9	There's also the potential to see leopards in this area.
1:16.1	Yeah, I mean it was just very cool because we were going on kind of a mini safari every
1:19.8	time we were just going out and exploring.
1:23.1	Matt's dad Lee was a paleo anthropologist, so his adventures always had one aim to find
1:29.9	fossils of early man, but he was down on his look.
	...

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