HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic: Recent Fossil Discoveries at Drimolen Cave, South Africa

(Watch an audio described version of this video here,    • (AD) HOT Topic: Recent Fossil Discoveries ...  ) Drimolen Cave, South Africa, is one of a very few places in the world that preserves evidence of human evolution when our own genus, Homo, became distinct from other ancient human relatives, the australopiths. In recent years, dating of the cave site has been established and new fossil discoveries there shed light on the origin of Homo and evolutionary change in the australopiths. In this video, Dr. David Strait, Professor of Biological Anthropology at Washington University and one of the lead scientists working at Drimolen, presents these new discoveries. Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. This Zoom webinar aired December 18, 2025, as part of the ongoing HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic series. Smithsonian's Human Origins Program website: https://humanorigins.si.edu/ Learn more about the HOT Topic series and get info about upcoming webinars on the museum's Events for Adults page: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/events/... #humanorigins #humanevolution #smithsonian