Lee R. Berger
Encyclopedia
Lee Rogers Berger is a paleoanthropologist
, physical anthropologist
and archeologist and is best known for his discovery of Australopithecus sediba
and his work on Australopithecus africanus
body proportions and the Taung Bird of Prey Hypothesis
.
, in 1965 but grew up in Sylvania
, Georgia in the United States. He has lived in South Africa
since 1989.
He graduated from Georgia Southern University
in 1989 with a degree in Anthropology
/Archaeology
and a minor in Geology. He undertook doctoral studies in palaeo-anthropology
at the University of the Witwatersrand
under Professor Phillip Tobias
, focusing his research on the shoulder girdle of early hominids and graduated in 1994. In 1991 he began his long term work at the Gladysvale
site. This marked the same year that his team discovered the first early hominid remains from the site, making this the first new early hominid site discovered in southern Africa since 1948. In 1993 he was appointed to the position of Research Officer in PARU.
and the Public Understanding of Science
.
In 1997 he was appointed to an adjunct Professorial position in the Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy at Duke University
in Durham North Carolina
and the following year as an Honorary Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas
. Twice collaborative research papers have been recognized as being among the top 100 Science stories of the year by Discover Magazine
, an international periodical focusing on popular scientific issues. The first recognition came in 1995 for his co-authored work with Prof. Ron Clarke
of Wits on the taphonomy of the Taung site and in 1998 for his co-authored work with Prof. Henry McHenry
of the University of California, Davis
on limb lengths in Australopithecus africanus.
He is a National Press Photographers Association
Humanitarian Award winner in 1987 for throwing his camera down while working as a news photographer for television station WTOC
and jumping into the Savannah River to save a drowning woman. His work in exploration and in human evolutionary studies has been covered in numerous international magazine feature articles and no less than twenty major international television documentaries. He has most recently been featured in National Geographic’s Naked Science series, National Geographic Channel’s Ultimate Survivor which premiered in March 2005 and Ancient Enemies with acclaimed Director/Producer Derrick Joubert. He is presently filming and hosting a thirteen-part international television series on fossils, exploration and fossil hunting. In 1997, the National Geographic Society
in Washington, D.C. awarded him the 1st National Geographic Society Prize for Research and Exploration given for his research into human evolution. The citation on the awards reads In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the increase of geographic knowledge through his accomplishments in the field of palaeoanthropology. In the study of the origins of humanity Prof. Berger has epitomized the Society’s mission to seek new knowledge of our world. It is the Society’s desire to recognize both his past accomplishments and future potential in one of the most demanding of all the anthropological disciplines.
As a youth he was active in student politics and president of Georgia 4-H
, involved in Future Farmers of America
and Georgia Youth Conservationist of the Year for his work in conserving the endangered Gopher Tortiose
. He is an Eagle Scout
and received the Boy Scouts of America
Honor Medal for saving a life in 1987.
and the Palaeo-Anthropological Scientific Trust. He served as Executive Officer of the Palaeo-Anthropological Scientific Trust from 1994–2001 and now acts as scientific advisor to the Trust, he was a founding Trustee of the Jane Goodall
Trust South Africa and served on the Committee for successful application for World Heritage Site Status for the UNESCO
Sterkfontein, Swartkans
, Kromdraai and Environs site. He also served on the committee for application of the Makapansgat
and Taung sites for World Heritage site status and Makapansgat site development committee. He also served on the committee of the Royal Society of South Africa, Northern Branch between 1996 and 1998 and served as Secretary in 1996 and 1997. He served on the Fulbright Commission, South Africa and was Chair of the Program Review Committee from 2002–2004 and was Chairman for 2005.
He has published in most major journals in the field including the Journal of Human Evolution, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and Nature
and his research
has stimulated debate and review in both Nature and Science
. He has over 50 refereed publications, 21 books or theses, and over 70 other publications to his name.
His present research activities include involvement as PI, Co-PI or senior collaborator on numerous excavations and exploratory projects around southern Africa including the following:
, Micronesia
that he found while on vacation in 2006. However, other scholars have disputed the argument that these individuals are pygmoid
in stature or were the result of insular dwarfism. John Hawks
, a paleoanthropologist not associated with the research, has countered these dissenting researchers' claims suggesting that all of the early Palauan remains found by Berger are in fact pygmoid in stature.
9-year-old Matthew Berger, the son of Lee Rogers Berger, found and carried out embedded in stone a clavicle
and a jawbone.
"A species of early human has been discovered in a South African cave, shedding light on a critical period during which our ancestors began to walk upright, use tools and develop a capacity for language. Scientists say the two million-year-old fossilised skeleton is from a previously unknown type of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that led to humans. The new species could be an intermediate stage between ape-like hominids and the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.The child’s skeleton and bones belonging to several adults were found by experts from the University of the Witwatersrand. Lee Berger and his colleagues made the discovery while exploring cave systems in the Sterkfontein area, near Johannesburg".
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints.-19th century:...
, physical anthropologist
Biological anthropology
Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...
and archeologist and is best known for his discovery of Australopithecus sediba
Australopithecus sediba
Australopithecus sediba is a species of Australopithecus of the early Pleistocene, identified based on fossil remains dated to about 2 million years ago....
and his work on Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 2–3 million years ago in the Pliocene. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus was slenderly built, or gracile, and was thought to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil...
body proportions and the Taung Bird of Prey Hypothesis
Taung Child
The Taung Child — or Taung Baby — is the fossilized skull of a young Australopithecus africanus individual. It was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa...
.
Background
Berger was born in Shawnee Mission, KansasKansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, in 1965 but grew up in Sylvania
Sylvania, Georgia
Sylvania is a city in Screven County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,675 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Screven County.-Geography:Sylvania is located at ....
, Georgia in the United States. He has lived in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
since 1989.
He graduated from Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University is a national public university located on a campus in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1906, it is part of the University System of Georgia and is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia offering 117 academic majors in a comprehensive...
in 1989 with a degree in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
/Archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and a minor in Geology. He undertook doctoral studies in palaeo-anthropology
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints.-19th century:...
at the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
under Professor Phillip Tobias
Phillip V. Tobias
Phillip Vallentine Tobias is a South African palaeoanthropologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg...
, focusing his research on the shoulder girdle of early hominids and graduated in 1994. In 1991 he began his long term work at the Gladysvale
Gladysvale Cave South Africa
Gladysvale Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cave located about 13 km Northeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and about 45 km North-Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa...
site. This marked the same year that his team discovered the first early hominid remains from the site, making this the first new early hominid site discovered in southern Africa since 1948. In 1993 he was appointed to the position of Research Officer in PARU.
Employment history
He was promoted to a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Research Officer at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1995. He has served in the position of Leader of the Palaeoanthropology Research Group, and has taken charge of fossil hominin excavations including Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Gladysvale. In 2004 he was promoted ad hominin to Reader in Human EvolutionHuman evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
and the Public Understanding of Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
.
Awards
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
in Durham North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and the following year as an Honorary Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
. Twice collaborative research papers have been recognized as being among the top 100 Science stories of the year by Discover Magazine
Discover (magazine)
Discover is an American science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. The monthly magazine was launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It was sold to Family Media, the owners of Health, in 1987. Walt Disney Company bought the magazine when Family Media went out of...
, an international periodical focusing on popular scientific issues. The first recognition came in 1995 for his co-authored work with Prof. Ron Clarke
Ronald J. Clarke
Ronald J. Clarke is a paleoanthropologist most notable for the discovery of "Little Foot", an extraordinary complete skeleton of Australopithecus, in the Sterkfontein Caves...
of Wits on the taphonomy of the Taung site and in 1998 for his co-authored work with Prof. Henry McHenry
Henry McHenry
Henry Malcolm McHenry , PhD, is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, specializing in studies of human evolution, the origins of bipedality, and paleoanthropology....
of the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
on limb lengths in Australopithecus africanus.
He is a National Press Photographers Association
National Press Photographers Association
NPPA is the acronym for the National Press Photographers Association, founded in 1947. The organization is based in Durham, North Carolina and its mostly made up of still photographers, television videographers, editors, and students in the journalism field...
Humanitarian Award winner in 1987 for throwing his camera down while working as a news photographer for television station WTOC
WTOC-TV
WTOC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southeastern Georgia's Coastal Empire and Southern South Carolina's Lowcountry. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter along Fort Argyle Road/SR 204 in unincorporated...
and jumping into the Savannah River to save a drowning woman. His work in exploration and in human evolutionary studies has been covered in numerous international magazine feature articles and no less than twenty major international television documentaries. He has most recently been featured in National Geographic’s Naked Science series, National Geographic Channel’s Ultimate Survivor which premiered in March 2005 and Ancient Enemies with acclaimed Director/Producer Derrick Joubert. He is presently filming and hosting a thirteen-part international television series on fossils, exploration and fossil hunting. In 1997, the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
in Washington, D.C. awarded him the 1st National Geographic Society Prize for Research and Exploration given for his research into human evolution. The citation on the awards reads In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the increase of geographic knowledge through his accomplishments in the field of palaeoanthropology. In the study of the origins of humanity Prof. Berger has epitomized the Society’s mission to seek new knowledge of our world. It is the Society’s desire to recognize both his past accomplishments and future potential in one of the most demanding of all the anthropological disciplines.
Georgia 4-H
Georgia 4-H was founded in 1904 by G.C. Adams in Newton County, Georgia, USA, as the Girls Canning, and Boys Corn Clubs.The Georgia 4-H Program is a branch of Georgia Cooperative Extension, which is part of the University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, and is funded...
, involved in Future Farmers of America
National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is an American youth organization known as a Career and Technical Student Organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education...
and Georgia Youth Conservationist of the Year for his work in conserving the endangered Gopher Tortiose
Gopherus polyphemus
The gopher tortoise is a species of the Gopherus genus native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for 360 other animal species...
. He is an Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
and received the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
Honor Medal for saving a life in 1987.
Research and other activities
During his career he has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on extensive grants, including grants from the National Geographic Society, the Swiss National Science FoundationSwiss National Science Foundation
The Swiss National Science Foundation is a science research support organization mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The SNSF was established in 1952 as a foundation under private law. Its secretariat is based in Bern....
and the Palaeo-Anthropological Scientific Trust. He served as Executive Officer of the Palaeo-Anthropological Scientific Trust from 1994–2001 and now acts as scientific advisor to the Trust, he was a founding Trustee of the Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall
Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National...
Trust South Africa and served on the Committee for successful application for World Heritage Site Status for the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Sterkfontein, Swartkans
Swartkrans
Swartkrans is a location in South Africa, around from Johannesburg.Swartkrans is a farm near to Sterkfontein, notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominid remains. It was purchased by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1968...
, Kromdraai and Environs site. He also served on the committee for application of the Makapansgat
Mokopane
Mokopane , is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town was established by the Voortrekkers and named Potgietersrus after the slain Voortrekker leader Piet Potgieter...
and Taung sites for World Heritage site status and Makapansgat site development committee. He also served on the committee of the Royal Society of South Africa, Northern Branch between 1996 and 1998 and served as Secretary in 1996 and 1997. He served on the Fulbright Commission, South Africa and was Chair of the Program Review Committee from 2002–2004 and was Chairman for 2005.
He has published in most major journals in the field including the Journal of Human Evolution, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
and his research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
has stimulated debate and review in both Nature and Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
. He has over 50 refereed publications, 21 books or theses, and over 70 other publications to his name.
His present research activities include involvement as PI, Co-PI or senior collaborator on numerous excavations and exploratory projects around southern Africa including the following:
- Survey of BotswanaBotswanaBotswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
and South Africa for the National Geographic Society - Kwando, BotswanaBotswanaBotswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
megafauna study - Drimolin cave excavations
- Gladysvale cave excavations (in collaboration with the University of Zurich)
- Coopers caveCoopers Cave South AfricaCooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 40 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.-Tools:...
excavations - MotsetsiMotsetsi-Geographical Location:Motsetsi Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity located about 14 km East of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 45 km North-Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.-History of...
cave excavations - Plovers LakePlovers LakePlovers Lake Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity in South Africa. The cave is located about 4 km Southeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 36 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.-History of...
excavations - Bolts farm excavations (in collaboration with the University of Pretoria and the Transvaal Mus.)
- Taphonomic studies within the John Nash Nature Reserve
- KromdraaiKromdraai fossil siteKromdraai is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cave located about 2 km east of the well known South African hominid-bearing site of Sterkfontein and about 45 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa...
cave excavations (in collaboration with the Transvaal Museum) - HoedjiespuntHoedjiespuntHoedjiespunt is a Middle Pleistocene aged hominid fossil-bearing site on the West coast of South Africa, near the town of Saldanha Bay. The site is an ancient Brown Hyena lair dug into the side of a sand dune, located on a peninsula overlooking the Atlantic Ocean...
excavations (in collaboration with the University of Cape Town) - Free State survey (in collaboration with the National Museum Bloemfontein, Duke University and the University of Arkansas)ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
- PalauPalauPalau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, MicronesiaMicronesiaMicronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest.... - Survey of ZimbabweZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
.
Palau fossils
Berger is also known for the discovery of what he and colleagues claimed were small-bodied humans in PalauPalau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
that he found while on vacation in 2006. However, other scholars have disputed the argument that these individuals are pygmoid
Pygmy
Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually short; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult men grow to less than 150 cm in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed "pygmoid." The best known pygmies are the Aka,...
in stature or were the result of insular dwarfism. John Hawks
John D. Hawks
John Hawks is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also is the author of a widely read paleoanthropology blog.-Biography:...
, a paleoanthropologist not associated with the research, has countered these dissenting researchers' claims suggesting that all of the early Palauan remains found by Berger are in fact pygmoid in stature.
Australopithecus sediba
In 2008 near Malapa caveMalapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Malapa is a fossil-bearing cave located about Northeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and about North-Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa...
9-year-old Matthew Berger, the son of Lee Rogers Berger, found and carried out embedded in stone a clavicle
Clavicle
In human anatomy, the clavicle or collar bone is a long bone of short length that serves as a strut between the scapula and the sternum. It is the only long bone in body that lies horizontally...
and a jawbone.
"A species of early human has been discovered in a South African cave, shedding light on a critical period during which our ancestors began to walk upright, use tools and develop a capacity for language. Scientists say the two million-year-old fossilised skeleton is from a previously unknown type of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that led to humans. The new species could be an intermediate stage between ape-like hominids and the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.The child’s skeleton and bones belonging to several adults were found by experts from the University of the Witwatersrand. Lee Berger and his colleagues made the discovery while exploring cave systems in the Sterkfontein area, near Johannesburg".
Selected publications
- Over one hundred scientific and popular articles including several books
- Redrawing the family tree? (National Geographic Press, 1998)
- Visions of the Past (Vision. End. Wild. Trust, 1999)
- Towards Gondwana Alive: promoting biodiversity and stemming the sixth extinction (Gondwana Alive Soc. Press, 1999)
- In The Footsteps of Eve (with Brett Hilton-Barber)(National Geographic,2001)
- The Official Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind (with Brett Hilton-Barber)(Struik, 2002). For a review, visit http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1003_sajs.pdf.
- Change Starts in Africa ( in South Africa the Good News)(S.A. Good News Publishing, 2002)
- Working and Guiding in the Cradle of Humankind (Prime Origins Publishing and The South African National Lottery, 2005)
- A Guide to Sterkfontein – the Cradle of Humankind (with Brett Hilton-Barber) (Struik, 2006)
- The Concise Guide to Kruger (Struik, 2007)