Taung Child podcast: The hidden voices of South African palaeoanthropology
A new perspective piece in the South African Journal of Science (SAJS) by archaeologist Justin Pargeter reflects on the HERI podcast, Unburied Season 2. An ambitious four-part audio documentary about the Taung Child fossil discovery, he calls the podcast:
“…a model of what it looks like to take these critiques seriously by engaging the public, and to do so by placing local African voices at the centre of the inquiry rather than at its margins.”
Co-produced by HERI and ARC, Unburied Season Two formed part of activities around the commemoration of the Taung Child centenary in 2025. Alongside the podcast, HERI members including Lauren Schroeder and its Co-directors Rebecca Ackermann and Robyn Pickering, and UCT’s Dr Yonatan Sahle, guest edited the SAJS special issue dedicated to the Taung Child.
Together, these projects drive a crucial conversation about the history - and future - of human origins research. Indeed, Pargeter writes how both the podcast and special issue confront the discipline’s uncomfortable roots. He highlights how early discovery narratives routinely erased the contributions of Black migrant mineworkers who unearthed critical fossils under dangerous, segregated conditions.
His piece also addresses the dark legacies of figures like Raymond Dart, whose race-science practices involved collecting human remains and treating living indigenous communities as "living fossils". Furthermore, Pargeter unpacks how the persistent "explorer myth" continues to privilege individual Western researchers over local knowledge and labor.
Crucially, this reckoning does not diminish the scientific significance of Africa as the cradle of humankind. Instead, it centers the local African scientists, community leaders, and heritage workers who have a direct stake in these discoveries.
As the field enters its next century, true progress requires moving beyond simply acknowledging past exclusions to actively building an equitable, inclusive discipline. Pargeter captures the heart of this imperative through the words of local Taung resident and creative anthropologist Lungile Ronald Keswa:
"We admire the greatness that Raymond did for this country. But at the same time, we say that it's time to say, let's correct the wrongs that he did, ethically."
Listen to Unburied Season 2
All four episodes are available free online here - and on major podcast platforms or visit arcdoos.org. and read Justin Pargeter’s full article in the South African Journal of Science.