Ateneo to host the First Humans Out of Africa fossil exhibit this February

Man has long been leaping boundaries and reaching highly advanced milestones to keep moving towards the future--but that doesn’t mean man has to stop looking back to the past.
 
The past is an important part of mankind that tells the story of how the first man, our ancestors, were able to survive and become the man that we know now.
 
To share more of these stories, the Ateneo Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Rizal Library in collaboration with Crania heritage Sciences Inc. present “The Journey of Mankind: First Humans Out of Africa—The Hominids of Dmanisi, Georgia,” a series of exhibits and lectures about the the first humans, known as the Homo erectus, to have ventured outside of Africa.
 
The event will kick off on Feb. 9, 2016 from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the Ateneo Leong Hall Auditorium, followed by the ribbon cutting of the exhibition proper at the 5th floor of the Rizal Library.
 
The Dmanisi Hominid Fossils
THE FIRST HUMANS OUT OF AFRICA: The Journey of Mankind will showcase casts of fossils of extinct animals, such as the skull of a saber-tooth cat, the skull of the wolf Canis etruscus, an elephant molar, and five stone tools dating back to 1.77 million years ago.
 
But the stars of the show are 3 well-preserved human skulls found in Dmanisi, Georgia, thousands of miles away from East Africa where the Homo erectus is believed to have evolved.
 
The exhibition will focus on the discovery of these skulls and on analyzing how the first humans adapted after leaving Africa.
 
It will also offer an opportunity for learning by interaction and discussion about the unfolding of the human story and provide better understanding of human nature.
 
The exhibition series
The event will officially be launched in the Ateneo de Manila University and will also serve as the first groundbreaking event of the Ateneo Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Rizal Library this year.
 
Professor Doctor David David Lordkipanidze, the Scientific Head of the Dmanisi expedition and Director-General of the Georgian National Museum, will also be present in Ateneo to deliver his lecture on “The First Humans in Eurasia.”
 
The exhibition in Ateneo will run from Feb. 9 to Mar. 4, 2016.
 
As it is a traveling exhibition, the Dmanisi Hominid Fossils will then have individual launch dates in 7 different schools in Manila, running for 4 weeks in each school.
 
A scheduled activity will take place every week, including a lecture on the Dmanisi Humans and on human revolution to show the broader context in which the Dmanisi belong.
 
The speakers of the lectures will feature an archaeologist who has worked in Dmanisi and a specialist in the science of human evolution.
 
To cap the event, there will be a sandbox archaeology activity among students and practicing archaeologists.

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For more details call or email the DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY (426-5990 or 426-6001 locals 5270/71 or socioanthro.soss@ateneo.edu)