COMPETITION for LEARNERS in GRADE 5

                                              1st TERM

     – MAKE THE SYLLABUS COME ALIVE!

[PRIZES: Prizes are beng negotiated with sponsors, and may include  a trip  for winners with their parents or teachers to see the site, handle Sibudu artefacts dug up there, meet and chat to archaeologists.  They will also be given free membership to Friends of Sibudu Junior Association]

Write a maximum 500 words. Hand-drawn original drawings may be included, no copies or tracings.

• Visit our website www.sibudu.net and

                  Watch our 9 minute film about early humans on Vimeo

                  See the photos of the finds at Sibudu, and sketches of hunter-gatherers

• See a 15 minute vimeo: Sibudu archaeology  https://vimeo.com/153616221

From this, can you see what your life would have been? For example:

                      What did you wear?

                      What did you eat?

                      How did you cook food?

• So how did the Sibudu hunter-gatherers manage daily life without any metal, ceramic (“china”), paper or plastic objects?  
• How did they survive without growing any food and with no domestic animals?
• Now write about a day in your life at the cave.

Closing Date March 21.  Submit by notifying [email protected] that a submisison is ready and you will told where to drop it off. Or you many scan the pages and send them digitally.

Further resources for teachers and parents:

• https://zompist.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/why-you-want-to-be-a-hunter-gatherer/
• Manuel Will, an archaeologist from the international team that are ‘digging’ at Sibudu in March this year, has a  blog – see Ancient housekeeping: JAN 20 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 Some of the earliest fossil-tools ever found came from the Sibudu cave on the Thongathi (Tongaat) River near Ballito. Those already found include the oldest arrowhead in the world, for example, and the oldest paint and glue mixture, and the oldest bedding! 

These have been dated, and prove that ancient humans were living in the cave 70,000 years ago, making tools, painting objects and even using reeds and herbs for a bedding that discouraged mosquitoes!

SIBUDU HAS BECOME WORLD FAMOUS AND HAS BEEN PUT FORWARD BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT FOR UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE STATUS.

 OUT OF AFRICA: Genetic research into human DNA proves that all modern humans are descended from people who migrated OUT OF AFRICA around the time Sibudu was inhabited.

 These early humans lived here as hunters and gatherers for tens of thousands of years before the coming of black groups, including the Zulu, who brought with them cattle-herding, iron tools and pottery.  

To book a live performance of Sibudu Drama for your school or event  tel. Mthu 0611015020