Sterkfontein

Sterkfontein ( Afrikaans for " strong source " ) is the name for a series of caves near the town of Krugersdorp north-west of Johannesburg in South Africa. The caves are of particular interest for the research in the field of paleoanthropology, since a number of early hominids fossils were found. Sterkfontein was declared in 1999 a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has since referred to as the Cradle of Humankind ( " cradle of mankind ").

The excavations in the caves began in the late 1890s by limestone seeking geologists who noticed the fossils and scientists made aware of it. However, only in 1936 began student of Raymond Dart and Robert Broom of the Witwatersrand University of systematic excavations. These excavations revealed many early hominids. 1936 gave the caves an adult Australopithecus free. The supported Raymond Darts interpretation that found at Taung and known as the " Taung Child " Australopithecus africanus was an early ancestor of humans ( Hominini ).

During the Second World War rested the excavations, after which they were continued by Robert Broom. In 1947 he found the almost complete skull of an adult female (or maybe adolescent male ) Australopithecus africanus, Broom, however, the first of the new genus name was Plesianthropus transvaalensis ( "near -human Transvaal "). This skull was also known under the still popular abbreviation " Mrs. Ples ". She or he is estimated to be 2.6 to 2.8 million years, and thus dated to the Pliocene.

The excavations will be continued continuously and yielded far more than 500 hominid finds; so Sterkfontein is the richest localized archaeological site in the world for early hominids. The cave is known since 1995 also for " Little Foot ", a skeleton, which was initially dated to around three million years later, about four million years, and last two million years.

Today the cave is partially open to visitors. A newly built visitor center has an exhibition on the development of the Earth and humanity. Then, a path leads to the cave entrance. There are steps that lead up to 60 meters deep. Skeletons are, however, not be seen.

Since 2005, there are ten kilometers northwest another visitor center named Maropeng ( Setswana for " returning to our place of origin" ). It is also aimed at children.