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International Museums Day at Bayworld

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Bayworld is celebrating International Museum Day on Sunday, 29 May 2011. International Museum Day has been celebrated on 18 May all around the world since 1977. Due to elections within South Africa this year which took place on the 18th May 2011 International Museums Day will be celebrated on the 25th May 2011. Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, co-operation and peace among people.  The event provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them to the challenges museums face.  The theme for this year is Museums and Memories.

As part of the celebrations, Bayworld will also be hosting various schools within the Port Elizabeth area to visit the Museum during the week of the 26th and 27th May 2011. Emile Badenhorst together with the education team Nicky and Sandile will be doing presentations on Museums and Memories with the subtitle “Objects tell your story” Emile Badenhorst presentation entitled ‘Museums and Memories’, Sandile and Nicky will be doing presentation on ‘Careers in Museums’ to the learners groups on the 26th and 27th May 2011. No 7 Castle Hill Museum, situated in the central area of Port Elizabeth, will also be open on Sunday 29 May 2011, from 10:00 to 13:00 free of charge. Come and browse through the books on Geology and try and trace your ancestors.

Professor Pieter Wagener from the Department of Physics at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University will be doing a presentation on ‘Boskop Skull’ on the 27th May 2011 at 18:00 to the Friends of Bayworld.  Recent discoveries in genetics show that human evolution diverged into two separate streams ~1.1 million years ago, but subsequently introgressed ~36 000 years ago. The streams represent primitive Homo sapiens and an archaic Homo sapiensohom lineage respectively. The latter is characterised by the presence of the microcephalin gene. There is uncertainty about the species of the archaic lineage, but the Neanderthal has been proposed. Professor Pieter Wagener showed that this choice is not feasible and proposed the Boskop as an alternative. This species conforms to the characteristics bestowed by the microcephalin gene. Gillian Watson will be showing a collection ‘Miscellaneous Natural History Objects’. The Boskop skull is one of the most important archaeological artifacts in the world. Most of its value still needed to be researched and established as it is still a bit of a mystery as to where exactly it fits into the human evolutionary development, because of its immense scientific value, the Boskop skull is not on display, but will however be brought out and put on display for the Friends of Bayworld to view on Friday evening as part of Prof. Wagener’s presentation.

Entrance to the Museum Complex on 29 May 2011 will be FREE for all ages.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.