Episode 3 · Matthew Berger, age 9 — Malapa, South Africa
The Kid Who Discovered A New Species
He got bored, chased the family dog into the grass, tripped over a rock — and then did the one thing most people don't. He looked at it.
10 min listen · ages 8-10
The Kid Who Discovered A New Species
Summary
On 15 August 2008, a nine-year-old ran after his dog Tau across a hillside in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind and tripped. In the rock beside him was a collarbone belonging to a boy who died nearly two million years earlier — the first bones of a species nobody had ever named.
The Story
Matthew Berger was bored. His dad, palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger, was working a site called Malapa that he'd spotted using satellite images, and Malapa is not an exciting place to be nine years old.
So Matthew chased the family dog, Tau, out into the tall grass — and tripped over a rock.
Most people get up and keep walking. Matthew turned around and looked at the rock. Sticking out of it was a bone. He thought it might be an antelope.
"Dad, I found a fossil!" It wasn't an antelope. It was a right clavicle — a collarbone — from a young male who had lived roughly 1.98 million years ago. A search that had taken his father around twenty years ended with a bored kid and a dog.
The fossils became Australopithecus sediba, announced in the journal Science in 2010. "Sediba" means fountain or wellspring in seSotho. More than 200 fossil elements have come out of that site since.
The ancient boy in the rock was only a few years older than Matthew. And the whole discovery rests on a single decision: he stopped, and he looked.
Timeline
Before 2008
Lee Berger searches for fossil sites — about twenty years of looking, later helped by satellite images.
15 Aug 2008
Matthew chases the dog Tau, trips over a rock at Malapa and spots a bone.
Moments later
"Dad, I found a fossil!" — he thinks it's an antelope.
2010
The species is announced in Science as Australopithecus sediba.
Since
More than 200 fossil elements recovered from the same site.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Curiosity is a choice you make in about two seconds.
- ✓Discoveries aren't only for grown-ups with equipment.
- ✓Boredom is often the start of something, not the end of it.
Fun Facts
Photos & Field Notes
Sources
Seattle Times / Associated Press — "Unearthing new species of hominid is child's play" (Apr 2010)
Primary source for the discovery scene: the dog Tau, tripping, "Dad, I found a fossil!", the ~20-year search.
PBS NewsHour — "New hominid species shows transition between apes, humans" (Apr 8, 2010)
Matthew thinking the bone was from an antelope; the transitional-species science.
Smithsonian Human Origins Program — Australopithecus sediba
Discovery date (Aug 15, 2008), the MH1 right clavicle, anatomy and dating.
Australian Museum — Australopithecus sediba
"Sediba" = fountain/wellspring in seSotho; clavicle found by 9-year-old Matthew, son of Lee Berger.
Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Satellite survey, 2008 discovery, subsequent excavations, 200+ elements, MH1 and MH2.
Researchers' own reflections (quoted in Thrive Global, Caterpickles, WQAD)
The "imagine if Matthew had walked on" reflection and the emphasis on stopping to look.
Maropeng / John Hawks
Background on Malapa and the Cradle of Humankind.
Transcript
HostA hillside in South Africa. Dry grass. A very bored nine-year-old.
HostHe runs after the dog. He trips. And here is the important part: he turns around.
MatthewDad — I found a fossil!
Full transcript continues in the show notes.
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