Origins of Sapiens: A younger perspective

5th December 2025

Myself and a group of my peers recently had the opportunity to pay a visit to SANPark’s incredible Origins of Early Southern Sapiens Behaviour exhibit at Cape Point. You may think the name is a mouthful, however it is in fact a sneaky tactic to cleverly disguise this fascinating exhibit as a first year anthropology textbook. We did not fall for their tricks. The exhibition is a monumental combined effort between the University of Bergen’s SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behavior, the University of Witwatersrand, and of course, SANparks. The exhibit was curated by none other than award-winning documentary filmmaker, Craig Foster, of ‘’My Octopus Teacher’ fame’, and archaeologist Petro Keene.

The exhibit focuses primarily on 3 main caves situated in Southern Africa, the closest thing we have to a site of origin for all human life. They range from 50 000 to a whopping 120 000 years old, and takes us through exactly what life was like for these early humans and how we have more in common with them than we might think.

As soon as you step foot through the door you are immediately immersed in the experience. The exhibit invites you on an almost cyclical journey from video to video, covering all you need to know about the earliest forms of human life along the way. The atmosphere inside is truly captivating, with the room being dark, yet illuminated by the projections on the walls and the warm light coming from the numerous displays of varying natures. Through the doors, the first thing that you are greeted with is the message, ‘’Welcome Home’’, which proudly introduces you to one of the main themes of the exhibit that you will find woven throughout: connection. We are encouraged to appreciate and respect our ancestors, understanding that they were not so different from us. They created art (with the oldest example of which ever found on display), they innovated, invented, and were otherwise cultured, tasteful individuals.

We walked into the exhibition carrying misguided beliefs. Belief that our ancestors lived only to survive and were focused solely on their own self-preservation. We walked out feeling a sense of kinship, a sense of relatability with these men and women to whom we owe our existence. I personally found myself a touch awestruck looking at some of the skulls. To think that that thing there, right there in front of me, had been in the head of a man over a million years ago. To think that if you squinted, you would be mistaken for believing that to be a skull perfectly alike to my very own.

Aside from this newfound appreciation, there were many interesting facts to be learned. It was fascinating to see the aforementioned skulls of different homo species presented side by side, and observe the clear structural differences and changes between them. As well as simply getting insight into how our ancestors lived their day to day lives: the food they ate, the art they created, and the jewellery and other symbols they carefully crafted.

The exhibit is wrapped up beautifully with a call to look to the future of our planet and our species. After all we are all descendants of the same people, we are brothers and sisters, why should we not feel that same connection we felt to those people of old, with the people of the world.

I highly encourage you to check this exhibition out, it is exceedingly obvious how much care and meticulous attention to detail has gone into it. It gives you the opportunity to truly understand where it is that you come from, whilst forging a deep understanding of what it means to be human.

– Angelina