Lee Berger is an award-winning paleoarchaeologist whose explorations into human origins in Africa over the past 25 years have resulted in the discovery of more hominin fossil remains than any other. He spearheaded the discovery of two new species of ancient human relatives: Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. A current National Geographic Explorer at Large, Berger won the first National Geographic Society Research and Exploration Prize in 1997. In 2016, he was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Berger is the Phillip Tobias Chair in Palaeoanthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with his wife and two children.

John Hawks is a paleoanthropologist who has been working with Lee Berger on his expeditions for more than a decade. The Vilas-Borghesi Distinguished Achievement Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, he lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife and four children.