Famous skull sliced – in the name of science

THE world-famous 36000-year-old Hofmeyr skull, kept under lock and key at the East London Museum and which supports the "Out of Africa" theory that all modern humans originated in Africa, underwent a delicate operation yesterday.

Clad in a surgical mask and gloves and brandishing a small electric drill, the world's leading expert on the skull, Professor Fred Grine, of New York's Stony Brook University, carefully sliced the ancient cranium, as bone dust billowed all about him.

The extraordinary procedure was observed by eagle-eyed East London Museum scientist Kevin Cole who, along with the museum board, had given Grine the green light to perform it.

The carefully bagged slivers of skull are destined for Copenhagen where intricate DNA tests will be performed.

"It will be almost like a James Bond movie," Grine said. "I am flying to London with the samples where I will hand them over to a lab expert and she will then carry them to Copenhagen."

Grine explained that the point of the genetic testing was to establish whether the Hofmeyr skull once formed part of a Khoisan person.

"This is significant because if we can say it is genetically Khoisan it would prove that the Khoisan had their roots in the Eastern Cape 36000 years ago and not in East Africa as some people believe."

The ancient specimen already supports the theory that all modern homo sapiens originated in this continent and migrated to Europe 40000 to 60000 years ago.

The skull was discovered along the banks of the Vlekpoort River near Hofmeyr in the early 1950s. It was originally donated to the East London Museum before circulating at a few universities. It was returned to the East London Museum in 2009 where a replica of it is on display. - Barbara Hollands