Origins Centre

The Origins Centre opened in 2006 at the University of the Witwatersrand and its subject is narrower and more interesting than a general natural history museum: how symbolic thought - art, ornament, ritual - appears in the archaeological record, and what San rock art can tell us about the minds that made it. Wits holds the Rock Art Research Institute, whose work under David Lewis-Williams established the trance interpretation of San painting, and the museum is built on that scholarship. Displays cover engraved ochre from Blombos Cave, shell beads, stone tool sequences, and a large collection of rock art images with the interpretive framework laid out. Contemporary San voices are included rather than treated as a closed chapter. It is text-heavy and rewards time. There is a DNA ancestry element, a shop with good Africana, and a cafe.

The main sights

• The symbolic-thought thread - a museum organised around when art and ritual appear.
• The rock art scholarship - the interpretive work of the Wits research institute laid out.
• The Blombos material - engraved ochre and shell beads from the early symbolic record.
• The living San voices - contemporary perspectives rather than a closed past.

When to go

All year. Two to three hours. Weekday mornings are quietest.

Good to know

It is dense and text-heavy - visitors expecting dinosaurs or a quick walk-through will not enjoy it. It sits on a university campus with the usual parking and access questions. Braamfontein needs ordinary city precautions. Hours have varied with university terms.

Nearby

The Wits campus and Braamfontein are around it; Constitution Hill is nearby.

Key facts