The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Zephania Ubwani
20 July 2008
Ngorongoro — Organisers of the 50th anniversary since the discovery of the famous Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge have unveiled a five-year plan for capacity building in the field of paleontology in the country.
Paleontology is the branch of science concerned with fossil animals and plants.
The plan includes establishing a national research institute for paleontology that will also support training programmes for scientists, fossil extractors and hunters and site guides.
Other major projects include construction of Dr Mary Leakey Memorial Museum at Olduvai and a new facility at the Natural History Museum in Arusha.
Dr Leakey discovered the 1.75 million year old skull on July 17, 1959 after nearly 30 years of archaeological research at the gorge in Ngorongoro District alongside her husband Dr Louis Leakey.
Next year will mark the Golden Jubilee of the discovery that put the remote area on the world map overnight as a possible cradle of mankind and one of the most important sites on human evolution studies.
Dr Jackson Njau, a curator at the Natural History Museum in Arusha and a member of the Zinj Golden Jubilee committee, said several infrastructural development projects would be implemented from end of this year to 2013.
Among them is the establishment of a national institute for
paleontological research and improvement of archaeological sites spread in various parts of the country.
He said several international organisations, including research bodies, have shown willingness to support the government to set up the institute.
He added that it was too early to say where the proposed institution would be based but confirmed that the matter has been given the green light by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Dr Njau said the Dr Mary Leakey Tanzania Fund for Cultural Heritage would be officially launched in December next year, few months after the Zinj
Golden Jubilee slated for July 17, 2009.
The fund is aimed to support casting and fossil preparation programmes, training and conservation, renovation and restoration of several sites worked on in Olduvai and the 3.5 million years old hominid footprints at Laetoli.
The proposed memorial museum for Dr Leakey, who died in Kenya in 1996 at the age of 83, will include an information centre, mini-lecture hall, gift shop, offices and an extensive picnic lunch area.
A modern infrastructure at the present Olduvai Mary Leakey camp, where most of the visiting scientists and researchers normally stay, will be constructed.
It would have field laboratories, storage space, staff and research quarters, water reservoirs, dining hall, kitchens and enough camping facilities for large groups.
In commemorating the internationally acclaimed scientific discovery, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism through its Department of Antiquities will organise an international conference in Arusha from August
16 to 22, next year.
The conference on human origins and evolution will bring together scholars from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe and Middle East.
"They will discuss and share knowledge on our current understanding of the biological and cultural development of our ancestors", Dr Njau said during the 49th Zinj Anniversary marked on Saturday.
He added that during next year's commemoration special exhibitions will be staged at the Natural History Museum in Arusha and also at Olduvai Gorge focussing on the Leakey's discoveries and paleontological research in
Africa.
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