Pebble-dash

British Museum partner IAG Cargo has just moved 50 high profile works for the South Africa: The Art of a Nation exhibition.
The rare items travelling under the carrier’s Secure ultra-high-security service included not only the Mapungubwe Gold objects from the collections of the University of Pretoria but the celebrated Makapansgat Pebble.
Celebrated it may be, but we had to resort to Google to find out its true significance.
It is, basically, no more than a pebble, but one that has eroded naturally so that it looks like a crude rendition of a human face.
So what, you may say, but the reason it gets archaeologists so worked up is that it was found some distance from any possible natural source, near some remains of early humans in South Africa. They postulate that it caught the eye of some stumbling cave-person, perhaps 2.5m or even 2.9m years ago, who brought it back, with him or her.
This makes it makes it the world’s earliest manuport (more Googling) is “a natural object which has been moved from its original context by human agency but otherwise remains unmodified”.
Little can that proto-person have realised that, millions of years later, that souvenir of his trip to the other side of the lake or valley would end up being transported 8,000 miles in a flying metal bird, so that more humans on the other side of the world could come and gawp at it.
The exhibition runs until 26 February after which IAG Secure will be entrusted with the task of manuporting it back to South Africa.

Share this story

Related Topics

Latest off the record news

Lufthansa Cargo donates to Kenyan aid projects

Lufthansa Cargo has donated €10,481 to Cargo Human Care (CHC) in support of the organisation’s aid projects in Kenya. An…

Read More

Share this story

Air Cargo News Covid-19 webinar now available on-demand

Air Cargo News held its first webinar – Coronavirus: the outlook for air cargo – on April 15. Speakers included…

Read More

Share this story

Lufthansa Cargo and ANA Cargo deliver relief supplies to Australia

Lufthansa Cargo and ANA Cargo recently collaborated to deliver two tonnes of relief supplies to Australia. Lufthansa transported the supplies…

Read More

Share this story

Air Cargo News

Air Cargo News
Established in 1983, Air Cargo News is the leading source of news, information, interviews, analyses and reports to the global airfreight industry. Our leading portfolio includes print, digital and events that give businesses in the airfreight industry the ability to connect with decision-makers in this sector.