Public Outreach
Michela Ecker, Hiromitsu Sato and Douglas Kelley have published an article in the German journal Archäologie in Deutschland (AiD).
Ecker, M., Sato, H., Kelley, D. Rekonstruktion des Amazonas-Ökosystems zu letzten Eiszeit. Archäologie in Deutschland 3/2025 (2025), 14-17. See the journal.
We held a successful community meeting in Maralaleng, Botswana, on 19th June 2024. We presented our ongoing work and first results as well as answering questions and receiving feedback from the community.
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Adventures in Archaeological Science Coloring Book is now available in Setswana, Afrikaans, German and English here.
Michaela Ecker held a talk about our research with the title: “Tracing Human Origins: Archaeological Fieldwork in the Kalahari” at CAU Kiel for the Late Night Science-Series on the 28th November 2023.
Meanwhile our PhD Inèz held a talk on the 12th December 2023 titled “Modern human origins in the Kalahari Desert: A case study from the Kgalagadi District, Botswana” in the Welcome Center for the Guesthouse Talks.
The KHO Project Team was present on the Science Day on the 29th September 2023 in Kiel. To show the public how we work, we scattered archaeological materials outdoors and let the people use our tablets and GPS receivers to do their own survey. Additionally, find sheets could be filled out. In collaboration with ROOTS and the ERC XSCAPE project, the younger participants also had the change to earn certificates of their participation. The enthusiasm was bigger than expected and the day turned out to be a great success!
View here the Post of the German Embassy about their visit to the KHO Project talk by Michaela Ecker at the Botswana National Museum in June 2023.
StoryMap “History and Archaology of Pniel 6, South Africa”. Learn about research in an interactive way. Also available in German: “Geschichte und Archäologie der Fundstelle Pniel 6, Südafrika”.
News coverage
Press release from the University of Kiel from 14th May 2025: Humid climate period in South Africa 6000 years ago goes hand in hand with cultural changes.
Press release from the University of Kiel from 11th September 2024: Beispiel Amazonas: Wie Paläoumweltdaten Klimamodelle verbessern.
Press release from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology from 11th September 2024: Study explains why Amazon is such a biodiverse paradise.
nd article 22nd October 2021: Frühe Klimawanderer. Auf den Spuren der menschlichen Entwicklung in der Kalahari.
KN Kieler Nachrichten article 28th July 2021: Was man aus der Vergangenheit über den Klimawandel lernen kann.
Solomon star article 5 June 2018: Prehistoric teeth reveal surprising details about ancient Africa’s climate.
Oxford Science Blog 21 May 2018: A very different environment for early tool makers in South Africa
Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto News 24 May 2018: Prehistoric teeth dating back 2 million years reveal details of ancient Africa’s climate
SABC news item on 11 June 2017 about our excavations at Wonderwerk Cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TZJZ2anztU&feature=youtu.be
Previous projects
May 2018: Nature Ecology & Evolution ‘Behind the paper’ Blogpost ‘A very different environment for early toolmakers in South Africa‘.
Kglagadi Human Origins 