Amateurs hit bone jackpot

IT took a group of citizen scientists to make the big discovery right under the noses of academics who have for more than 90 years been exploring the Sterkfontein valley in the Cradle of Humankind.

Two years ago, palaeoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger asked a team led by geologist Pedro Boshoff to head into the Cradle of Humankind to scout for new caves.

They were all amateur scientists on the lookout for fossils.

Rick Hunter had a good feeling as he headed deep into the Rising Star cave.

Ahead of him and his friend, Steven Tucker, were places they could only get to by contorting their bodies.

Tucker, who was an auditor at the time, felt that this day – September 13 2013 – was a good day to make a discovery.

Nearly two years to the day yesterday, that hunch was confirmed.

The two knew the cave well and Tucker decided that he would show his friend a formation known as the Dragon’s back.

Hunter moved down a shaft and realised it just kept going. Eventually he came to the chamber. He called his friend.

“That is when we saw bones, but at first we weren’t interested,” Tucker said.

That was until they saw the mandible, or jawbone. A week later, they returned and took photos.

They showed the photos to Boshoff and “he went ballistic”, Tucker said.

Boshoff tried to contact Berger, but could not get hold of him.

“We then went to Lee’s house. He didn’t seem interested at first, but then he saw the jaw [and] . . . was super-excited.”

Two months later, National Geographic funded an expedition.

Meanwhile, the citizen scientists have gone pro. Mapping and exploring caves has become their full-time occupation, with about 140 done so far. – Shaun Smillie