23 September 2015 | Carina Van Wyk

The Tapestry Room

While we're celebrating Heritage Day this week, the Origins Centre at Wits is the perfect place to hop off Joburg's red bus (and you get 50% off the entrance fee when presenting your City Sightseeing ticket). This world-class museum is dedicated to exploring and celebrating the history of modern humankind.

The Origins Centre at Wits

The museum’s exhibits take visitors on an extraordinary voyage of discovery, which begins with the origins of humankind in Africa, and then moves through the development of art, symbolism, and technology on the continent.

Visitors to the Origins Centre at Wits can expect to follow an 80 000-year path in search of the art and culture that has inspired human innovation, as well as delve into the fascinating beliefs of the ancient San, experiencing rituals such as hunting and trans-inducing ceremonies.

The Origins Centre boasts an extensive collection of rock art

The Origins Centre boasts an extensive collection of rock art from the Wits Rock Art Research Institute, affording visitors the opportunity to view the earliest images made by humans, found in South Africa.

An early display in the museum’s journey focuses on the fossils discovered in South Africa and the contribution these fossils have made to understanding the development of humankind. This is followed by many exhibitions covering everything from Stone Age tools to the evolution of man, and palaeoanthropological, archaeological and genetic data.

Australopithecus boisei and Sahelanthropus tchadensis

If ancient history and archaeology interests you, or if you are just curious as to how humankind evolved and migrated over the entire planet, the Origins Centre is the perfect stop for you.

Audio guides are available in six languages – Zulu, Sotho, English, Afrikaans, French and German.