Erich C. Fisher

Running a scientific project isn’t just about research. There also needs to be a base of operations where equipment can be stored and maintained, samples can be curated, and people can work. Developing this kind of infrastructure poses unique challenges that can stifle research and even stop it altogether. But, once in a while it can also lead to some very special relationships.

In 2014, the P5 Project was searching for a home. We had finished our first year of field work in 2011 and knew Pondoland had much to offer. In 2013, we published our first project paper, which summarized the results of the survey (Fisher et al., 2013. Archaeological reconnaissance for Middle Stone Age sites along the Pondoland Coast, South Africa. PaleoAnthropology:104-137 ). The project had a lot of momentum and the next big step was to find a place where we could base new research. We looked at many of the cities and town around Pondoland, but East London stood out. It was relatively close (relatively being a paltry 6 hours), diverse, on the ocean, and it had the East London Museum.

Founded in 1921, the East London Museum in East London, South Africa is considered to be one of the country’s most interesting natural and cultural history museums. It preserves the type specimen of the Coelacanth–a fish thought to have become extinct 80 million years ago–and it is also the home of the Hofmeyr skull, the remains of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer who lived in the Eastern Cape over 120,000 years ago. The museum also contains extensive collections of local marine and terrestrial animals and is a major hub of conservation and public-scientific engagement.

In August, 2014 I kept reading about the East London Museum so on a whim I sent a note to one of the museum Principal Scientists, Kevin Cole. Kevin was as excited as me and we planned to meet at Pinnacle Point, near Mossel Bay in South Africa’s Western Cape Province in October soon after I came back to South Africa. He and I spent the day talking coastal caves, archaeology, research labs, and whale necropsies (Kevin works with a lot of dead whales). We hit it off and soon thereafter Kevin and I had a memorandum of agreement.

I traveled to East London for the first time in December, 2014. it was a whirlwind trip. I stepped off the airplane after a 30+ hour trip, got in my rental car, and went straight to the museum–sight unseen–to give a public lecture! Two days later, I also received word we had received our first major grant from the US National Science Foundation. Then, Kevin introduced me to a former exhibit hall behind the main museum building. Complete with parquet wooden floor, kitchen, and private bathroom, it was a huge–and hugely generous–space. I could already see the rows of shelves with equipment and artifacts and people buzzing around in my head. It was perfect.

Six years later and our lab is now our project’s home and an invaluable asset. In 2019, we even started hosting other researchers working in the Eastern Cape. More importantly, the staff of the East London Museum have also opened up many new collaborations and opportunities for us that continue to drive the work of P5 in new and exciting ways.