Everything about Sterkfontein totally explained
Sterkfontein (
Afrikaans for
Strong Spring) is a set of
limestone caves of special interest to
paleo-
anthropologists located in
Gauteng province, Northwest of
Johannesburg,
South Africa near the town of
Krugersdorp. The archaeological sites of
Swartkrans (
Afrikaans for
Black Cliff) and
Kromdraai (
Afrikaans for
Crooked Turn) (and the
Wonder Cave) are in the same area.
A number of early
hominid remains have been found at the site over the last few decades.
Sterkfontein was declared a
World Heritage Site in
2000 and the area in which it's situated, was named the
Cradle of Humankind.
Modern excavation of the caves began in the late
1890s by limestone miners who noticed the
fossils and brought them to the attention of scientists. It wasn't until
1936 that students of Professor
Raymond Dart and Dr.
Robert Broom from the
University of the Witwatersrand began concerted excavations.
These excavations revealed many early hominids. In 1936, the Sterkfontein caves yielded the first adult
Australopithecine, substantially strengthening Raymond Dart's claim that the skull known as the Taung child (
Australopithecus africanus) was a human ancestor. There was a pause in excavation during
World War II, but after the war Dr. Broom continued excavations. In
1947 he found the almost complete skull of an adult female
Australopithecus africanus (or possibly that of an adolescent male). Broom initially named the skull
Plesianthropus transvaalensis (
near-man from
Transvaal), but it became better known by its nickname,
Mrs. Ples.
Mrs. Ples is estimated to be between 2.6 and 2.8 million years old placing it in the
Pliocene. In
1997 a near complete skeleton of an early hominid was found in the caves by
Ronald J. Clarke; extraction of the remains from the surrounding
breccia is ongoing. The skeleton was named
Little Foot, since the first parts found (in
1995, in storage) were the bones of a foot; it's estimated to be 3.3 million years old.
Excavations continue to this day and finds now total some 500 hominids, making Sterkfontein the richest site in the world for early hominids.
The
Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust
(PAST), a non-profit trust fund established in 1994, sponsors over 90% of the research undertaken at Sterkfontein and was instrumental in its nomination as a World Heritage Site.
Further Information
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