Lodwar, July 31, 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

The almost complete skeleton of the “Turkana Boy” is currently in Paris, France at the Olympics, and we are very proud that the world now gets to see and learn more about the “Origin of Mankind”.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite the World to Turkana- the Origin of Mankind, this September, for the Turkana Cultural Festival also known as Tobon’gulore (Welcome Home) Festival. At this annual festival, you will learn more about the “Turkana Boy”, among other historical, archaeological, touristic, and natural treasures of Turkana that tell the beautiful stories about Turkana, her people, culture, and traditions.

In 1984, Kamoya Kimeu, who was part of the Richard Leakey led-team, found an almost-complete fossilized skeleton that was dated to about 1.5 million years ago. This was a Homo erectus and is famously known as “Turkana Boy.”

The discovery of “Turkana Boy” was at Nariokotome, Turkana North. A replica skeleton is still located at the discovery site and is a site that is easily accessible to visit and get-in-touch with your origin.

Turkana Boy’s projected growth was recently recalculated using growth curves between human and ape norms. We now think he was around 9, beginning to experience a short adolescent growth spurt relative to ours that would have seen him grown (5’4” tall) by age 12.

Turkana Boy’s brain, larger than any before him, was about two-thirds the weight of our modern brain, so his behavior was probably very different from ours (in comparison, a two-year-old has 80% of the brain size of an adult).

He could have been an accomplished tool user, and maybe a hunter, whose people made large and small stone tools, particularly, hand-axes for scraping meat off the bones of dead animals in a climate as hot as it is today in the Turkana Basin.

Welcome Home!

Credits: Turkana Basin Institute and Magical Kenya