Karamoja Regional Museum is a public museum in Moroto Town run under the Department of Museums and Monuments in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities of Uganda. It also serves as a cultural center where cultural heritage in form of objects is showcased for people to access and appreciate the cultural heritage of the Karamoja sub-region. [1]
Its construction was funded by the French Embassy in Uganda under its Co-operation and Cultural Affairs department. [2] It was officially opened in March, 2012. In addition to conservation and education of the region’s paleontology, the museum showcases the past and modern lifestyles of the Karamajong people. It houses material culture (ethnographic collections) and the fossil collections of Karamoja Sub-region. [1] It is one of the regional museums under the Department of Museums and Monuments, Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities of Uganda
The Museum hosts collections illustrating the cultural and ancient natural heritage of Karomoja region in form of ethnographical objects, archaeological artifacts and paleontological fossils such as Afropithecus/Morotopithecus bishop, Morotopithecus Clarki [3] and other large apes of the middle Miocene of Napak. [4] [5] The collection comprises the following displays;
A selection of fossil materials from Karamoja is on display. Examples of fossils on displays include; plant material such as roots, stems and leaf impressions, pollen and animal material such as teeth, skulls, coprolites (fossilized faeces) among others [2] [6]
The collection displays aspects of colonial and pre-colonial history of Karamoja on displays such as the migrations, famine, warrior life and cattle smuggling, gun warfare and now school. Archaeological materials and information has been gathered about Stone and Iron Age sites such as Magosi Archaeological site and stone tools are displayed as well [6] [7] [8]
The collections display implements of everyday life and memorabilia of past cultural practice portray the traditional life of the Karamojong communities. [2] [7]
Inside the Museum, an exhibit about Karamoja environment displays to the public about the Karamoja wildlife and its environment insects, mammals, birds and fish.
The Museum offers research and education services for pupils, students and scholars.
Orrorin is an extinct genus of primate within Homininae from the Miocene Lukeino Formation and Pliocene Mabaget Formation, both of Kenya.
The Oropom were the aboriginal inhabitants of much of Karamoja in Uganda, Mt. Elgon area and West Pokot, Trans Nzoia and Turkana regions in Kenya. Their descendants were largely assimilated into various communities present in their former territories, including the Iteso, Karamojong, Pokot, Turkana and Bukusu. They are or were found in scattered pockets between the Turkwel River, Chemorongit Mountains and Mt. Elgon. One report indicates that they formerly spoke the unclassified Oropom language.
Proconsul major, an extinct primate of the genus Proconsul, was possibly the ancestor of Afropithecus and showed hominid characteristics. It occurred during the early Miocene and was roughly, the size of a gorilla. The species previously referred to as Ugandapithecus major is now considered to be a synonym of Proconsul major. Prior to 2000 it was known as Proconsul major and some argue against the renaming.
Megistotherium is an extinct genus of hyaenodont belonging to the family Hyainailouridae that lived in Africa.
The Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises the Kotido District, Kaabong District, Karenga District, Nabilatuk District, Abim District, Moroto District, Napak District, Amudat District and Nakapiripirit District. The region is projected to have a population of 1.4 millions in 2022 by UBOS.
Dissopsalis is a genus of teratodontine hyaenodonts of the tribe Dissopsalini. The older species, D. pyroclasticus, lived in Kenya during the middle Miocene, while the type species, D. carnifex, lived in Pakistan and India during the middle to late Miocene.
Martin Pickford is a lecturer in the Chair of Paleoanthropology and Prehistory at the Collège de France and honorary affiliate at the Département Histoire de la Terre in the Muséum national d'Histoire. In 2001, Martin Pickford together with Brigitte Senut and their team discovered Orrorin tugenensis, a hominid primate species dated between 5.8 and 6.2 million years ago and a potential ancestor of the genus Australopithecus.
The Idaho Museum of Natural History (IMNH) is the official state natural history museum of Idaho, located on the campus of Idaho State University (ISU) in Pocatello. Founded in 1934, it has collections in anthropology, vertebrate paleontology, earth science, and the life sciences. Additionally, it contains an archive of documents and ethnographic photographs.
Dendropithecus is an extinct genus of apes native to East Africa between 20 and 15 million years ago. Dendropithecus was originally suggested to be related to modern gibbons, based primarily on similarities in size, dentition, and skeletal adaptations. However, further studies have shown that Dendropithecus lacks derived hominoid traits. Instead, the traits shared between this taxon and modern primates are primitive for all catarrhines. Dendropithecus is now considered to be a stem catarrhine, too primitive to be closely related to any modern primates.
The Uganda Museum is located in Kampala, Uganda. It displays and exhibits ethnological, natural-historical and traditional life collections of Uganda's cultural heritage. It was founded in 1908, after Governor George Wilson called for "all articles of interest" on Uganda to be procured. Among the collections in the Uganda Museum are playable musical instruments, hunting equipment, weaponry, archaeology and entomology.
Morotopithecus is a genus of fossil ape discovered in Miocene-age deposits of Moroto, Uganda.
Isohyaenodon is an extinct polyphyletic genus of hyainailourid hyaenodont mammal from the subfamily Hyainailourinae). Remains are known from early to middle Miocene deposits in Kenya, East Africa.
Otavipithecus namibiensis is an extinct species of ape from the Miocene of Namibia. The fossils were discovered at the Berg Aukas mines in the foothills of the Otavi mountains, hence the generic name. The species was described in 1992 by Glenn Conroy and colleagues, and was at the time the only non-hominin fossil ape known from Southern Africa. The scientists noted that the surrounding area of the discovered specimen included fauna dated at "about 13 ± 1 Myr". The fossils consist of part of the lower jawbone with molars, a partial frontal bone, a heavily damaged ulna, one vertebra and a partial finger bone.
Micropithecus is an extinct genus of primates that lived in East Africa about 19 to 15 million years ago, during the early Miocene. The genus and its type species, Micropithecus clarki, were first scientifically described in 1978.
Brigitte Senut is a French paleoprimatologist and paleoanthropologist and a professor at the National Museum of Natural History, Paris. She is a specialist in the evolution of great apes and humans.
The Hiwegi Formation is a geological formation on Rusinga Island in Kenya preserving fossils dating to the Early Miocene period. The Hiwegi Formation is known for the well preserved plant fossils it preserves, which indicate a tropical forest environment that underwent wet and dry periods. The middle members of the formation in particular indicate a brief period in which conditions were notably dryer with a more open environment compared to older and younger units. Some of the formation's fauna, such as an early ancestor of the modern aye-aye and a chameleon of the genus Calumma, link Miocene East Africa to modern day Madagascar.
Dissopsalini is an extinct tribe of teratodontid hyaenodonts. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from early to late Miocene deposits in Asia and Africa.
Asilifelis is an extinct genus of small felid that lived in what is now Kenya during the Early Miocene. Despite its fragmentary remains, it is remarkable because of its small size and advanced dentition. It contains a single species, Asilifelis cotae.
Mount Napak is an extinct volcano in the Napak District of Uganda. Located on the northern edge of the Bokora Game Reserve, it reaches an estimated height of 2103m above sea level. An alkaline volcano which erupted carbonatite-nephelinite material during the Early Miocene on the margin of the Great Rift Valley, subsequent erosion affords volcanologists an opportunity to inspect its once internal structures. Moreover, volcanic ash deposits and paleosols preserve a range of both animal and plant fossils, significantly including numerous primate taxa.
The Lukeino Formation is a geologic formation located in Kenya and it dates to the Late Miocene (Messinian).
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