Author Archives: Shaun Smillie

About Shaun Smillie

Journalist, with a love of bones, fossils and other things dug up. Fisherman and occasional beer maker.

A taste for honey: bees in African rock art

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Shaun Smillie

Originally posted on British Museum blog:
Helen Anderson, Project Cataloguer of African Rock Art Image Project, British Museum In Summer 2014 the green roof of the newly opened World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre (WCEC) at the British Museum became home…

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Ancient peach pits offer clues to its origins

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Shaun Smillie

Originally posted on Ancientfoods:
It’s the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit’s origins Peach stones are well represented at archeological sites in the Yangtze valley, so they compared the size and structure of the stones from six sites…

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What the watchers drink

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Shaun Smillie

We have known about this for a long time, now it is just official. A survey by PR company Pressat has revealed that the number one choice of fuel for those defenders of Democracy, the Fourth Estate is coffee. In … Continue reading →

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World War one remembered

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Shaun Smillie

This week a century ago an unknown Bosnian Serb shot a prince and triggered the worst conflict the world had yet seen. It involved millions and families still hold tell me down stories from loved ones that fought in this … Continue reading →

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Haunted by a boy’s eyes

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Shaun Smillie

In the Katlehong police station spokesman Captain Mega Ndobe had a problem. For two months his detectives had been trying desperately to identify the body of young boy who had been found dumped just metres from the railway tracks in … Continue reading →

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Peak bagging in the old Transvaal

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Shaun Smillie

Here it is higher than both Ben Nevis and Mount Snowdon, in fact throw both their heights together and they pip this spot by just a bit. This trig beacon marks the highest point in Gauteng, sitting at 1913 metres, … Continue reading →

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A week’s long walk to see Madiba one last time

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Shaun Smillie

It has been a hard emotional week, chasing one of the biggest stories in the history of our country. Days of little sleep, mammoth queues, and a sense of comradre we are unlikely to experience again.   I hope these … Continue reading →

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When it finally came.

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Shaun Smillie

The dreaded day has come and now we muddle through the week. Nelson Mandela died almost quietly, there were no days of panic, or media scrambling on the basis of rumours. Instead it was only during his last hours that … Continue reading →

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The mystery journey we can now all watch

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Shaun Smillie

They are nearly here. Just a couple thousand kilometres of hard flying to go and they will be back. All they need to do is keep barrelling along that invisible highway in the sky that cuts continents and crosses the … Continue reading →

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The other Sharpeville

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Shaun Smillie

Something is not right with this picture. Sharpeville Township lies to the south of Johannesburg. But this photograph I snapped is in Durban Deep, to the west of the City of Gold. The bearing is all wrong To understand this … Continue reading →

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