Mr. Bain And Dr. Atherstone: South Africa's Pioneer Fossil Hunters

Although a few explorers had reported the finding of fossils in South Africa during the eighteenth century, interested amateurs made the first important collections of fossils during the 1830s. Many new species were discovered and sent back to London, for further study by the newly emerging class there of professional palaeontologists such as Richard Owen (1804-1892) of the British Museum's Natural History Department. As a result of a few pioneers like Andrew Geddes Bain (1797-1864) and William Guybon Atherstone (1814-1898), the study of South African geology and palaeontology was placed on a firm footing by the 1860s. Owen publicly acknowledged their contributions to these new sciences in 1876 in his monumental study of the fossil reptiles of South Africa.¹