Visitors’ views of human origins after visiting the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site

Anthony Lelliott

doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/20150210

Abstract

The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, west of Johannesburg, was designated in 1999 because of its importance as a locality where numerous hominid fossils have been discovered since the 1930s. In this article, responses to questions from a survey of more than 800 adult visitors to the Cradle of Humankind visitor centres are analysed, covering their understanding of the concept of the ‘cradle’ and their views on human evolution. Findings indicated that 63% of the respondents conceptualised the cradle as the origin or birthplace of humankind, and a similar proportion thought that nowhere else could be called the Cradle of Humankind (77% of people of South African nationality thought this). Nearly 60% of respondents accepted that humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor, while 25% disagreed. South Africans were less likely to accept human evolution than their international counterparts. The great majority of participants who accepted human evolution based their agreement on various forms of evidence and their knowledge of evolution. A religious foundation was used for their rationale by 60% of those who rejected evolution, with 33% citing evidence for their rejection. The implications of the findings are discussed in the light of public awareness and human origins.

Highlights

It is widely accepted amongst biologists and biology educators that evolution is a crucial organising principle on which much of the field of biology is based.[1]
Understanding what visitors think about human origins is important in this process and the insights described in this paper provide valuable background material for public engagement
While there are no clear indicators of numbers of museum visits by South Africans, there is a healthy domestic tourism industry with 25 million trips taken in both 2012 and 201333 which suggest that the sample surveyed can provide baseline data for future surveys

Summary

Introduction

It is widely accepted amongst biologists and biology educators that evolution is a crucial organising principle on which much of the field of biology is based.[1] Despite this conviction, there is considerable evidence that public non-acceptance of evolution holds sway in many countries because of a combination of religious beliefs and difficulties in understanding the principles on which the theory rests. Studies demonstrate that considerable proportions of the population hold cultural and religious views which they consider exclude their acceptance of the theory of evolution.[2] studies show that the concepts of variation, inheritance, natural selection and descent with modification are difficult to understand, even when explicitly taught in school.[3,4] In this paper, an analysis of the views of over 800 visitors to the Cradle of Humankind is provided. The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site designated in 1999, which is home to a large proportion of the world’s fossil hominids (the revised classification ‘hominins’ is not used here)

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Discussion

Conclusion