Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	South Africa
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, vi
Reference	915
Region†	Africa
Inscription History
Inscription	1999  (23rd Session)
Extensions	2005
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

The Cradle of Humankind or, alternatively Cradle of Humanity, Cradle of Mankind or Cradle of Man may refer to: History of the world, the history of humanity. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... As of 2006, there are a total of 830 World Heritage Sites located in 138 State Parties. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Africa. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State...

Geographical Location

The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies 183 square miles (474 km²); it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million year-old fossil Australopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples") was found in 1947 by Dr Robert Broom and John Robinson, as well as the Wonder Cave. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery of the juvenile Australopithecus africanus skull, "Taung Child", by Raymond Dart, at Taung in the North West Province of South Africa, where excavations still continue. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... This article is about the year. ... ‹ The template below (Unit of length) is being considered for deletion. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Categories: South Africa stubs | Provinces of South Africa | Gauteng Province ... Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of SI unit of surface area square metre, one of the SI derived units. ... For other uses, see Limestone (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cave (disambiguation). ... Archaeologists in a structure above the entrance to Sterkfontein. ... Binomial name †Australopithecus africanus Dart, 1925 Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3. ... Archaeologists at Sterkfontein cave, where Mrs. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image:Broom R.jpg Robert Broom Prof. ... Several notable individuals have been named John Robinson: Bishop John Robinson, persons named John Robinson who also happened to be Bishops John Robinson (1576-1625), organized Mayflower voyage John Robinson (1615-1680), English MP John Robinson (1650-1723), English diplomat; later Bishop of Bristol from 1710 and Lord Privy Seal... The Praying Mary Stalactite and stalagmite formations in the Wonder Cave The Wonder Cave, in Kromdraai, Gauteng, South Africa, is the third-largest cave chamber in the country, and is believed to be about 1. ... Year 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Taung Child refers to the fossil of a skull specimen of Australopithecus africanus. ... Raymond Dart, holding the Taung Child skull Raymond Dart (February 4, 1893–22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist best known for his discovery in 1924 of a fossil of Australopithecus at Taung in Northwestern South Africa. ... Taung is a small town situated in North West Province of South Africa. ... Categories: South Africa stubs | North West Province | Provinces of South Africa ...

History of Discoveries

In 1935 Robert Broom found the first ape-man fossils at Sterkfontein and began work at this site. In 1938 a young schoolboy, Gert Terrblanche, brought Raymond Dart fragments of a skull from nearby Kromdraai which later were identified as Paranthropus robustus. Also in 1938 a single ape-man tooth was found at the Coopers site between Kromdraai and Sterkfontein. In 1948 the Camp-Peabody Expedition from the United States worked at Bolts Farm and Gladysvale looking for fossil hominids but failed to find any. Later in 1948 Robert Broom identified the first hominin remains from Swartkrans cave. In 1954 C.K. "Bob" Brain began working at sites in the Cradle including Coopers and he soon would initiate his three decade work at Swartkrans cave which would result in the recovery of the second largest sample of hominid remains from the Cradle. The oldest controlled use of fire was also discovered at Swartkrans and dated to over 1 million years ago. Kromdraai is a protected conservancy in western Gauteng, South Africa not far from Krugersdorp. ... Binomial name Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938 Paranthropus robustus was originally discovered in Southern Africa in 1938. ... // Coopers Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 40km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... View of the Gladysvale Cave Fossil Site from the South. ... Charles Kimberlin Brain (C. K. Bob Brain), born in Zimbabwe in 1931, is an eminent South African paleontologist who has studied and taught African Cave Taphonomy for more than fifty years. ...

In 1966 Phillip Tobias began his excavations of Sterkfontein which are still ongoing and are the longest continuously running fossil excavations in the World. In 1991 Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand discovered the first hominid specimens from the Gladysvale site making this the first new early hominid site to be discovered in South Africa in 48 years. In 1994 Andre Keyser discovered fossil hominids at the site of Drimolen. In 1997 Kevin Kuykendall and Colin Menter of the University of the Witwatersrand found two fossil hominid teeth at the site of Gondolin. Also in 1997, the near-complete Australopithecus skeleton of "Little Foot", dating to around 3.3 million years ago (although more recent dates suggest it is closer to 2.5 million years ago), was discovered by Ron Clarke. In 2001 Steve Churchill of Duke University and Lee Berger found early modern human remains at Plovers Lake. Also in 2001 the first hominid fossils and stone tools were discovered in-situ at Coopers. Phillip Vallentine Tobias is a South African palaeoanthropologist. ... Professor Lee Rogers Berger, also known as Rod when he was younger, was born in Shawnee Mission Kansas in 1965 but grew up in Georgia in the United States but has lived in South Africa since 1989 and has been a Permanent Resident of South Africa since 1993. ... Little Foot is the nickname given to an extraordinarily complete fossil hominin skeleton found in 1994-1998 in the cave system of Sterkfontein, South Africa. ... Ronald J. Clarke is an paleoanthropologist most notable for the discovery of Little Foot, an extraordinary complete skeleton of Australopithecus, in the Sterkfontein Caves. ... Duke University is a private coeducational research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. ...

sites

There are more than three dozen fossil-bearing caves in the Cradle of Humankind. Other important sites include:

• Bolt's Farm
• Coopers Cave
• Drimolen
• Gondolin
• Haasgat
• Kromdraai
• Minaars Cave
• Motsetsi
• Plovers Lake
• Sterkfontein
• Swartkrans
• Wonder Cave

Coopers Brewery is an Australian company, privately owned by the Cooper family. ... Kromdraai is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cave located about 2km east of the well known South African hominid-bearing site of Sterkfontein and about 45km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... // Motsetsi Cave (also known as Motsetse) is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity located about 14km East of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 45km North-Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... // Plovers Lake Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity located about 4km Southeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 36km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... Archaeologists in a structure above the entrance to Sterkfontein. ... Swartkrans is a location in South Africa, around 20 miles from Johannesburg. ...

Geological Context

The hominid remains at the Cradle of Humankind are found in dolomitic caves and are encased in a mixture of limestone and other sediments called breccia and fossilised over time. Hominids may have lived all over Africa, but their remains are found only at sites where conditions allowed for the formation and preservation of fossils. Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... Breccia, derived from the Latin word for broken, is a sedimentary rock composed of angular fragments in a matrix that may be of a similar or a different material. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

Visitor Centers

On 7 December 2005, South African President Thabo Mbeki opened the new Maropeng Visitors Centre at the site.^[1] is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... </ref> |dead=alive |death_date= |death_place= |spouse=Zanele Mbeki née Dlamini[2][3] |party=African National Congress[2] }} Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) is the current President of the Republic of South Africa. ...

Austrolopithecus africanus (Hominid Reconstruction)

Image File history File links Austrolopithecus_africanus. ... Image File history File links Austrolopithecus_africanus. ...

References

• • L.R. Berger and B. Hilton-Barber, Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind (Struik, 2003)

News24 is Southern Africa and Africas premier online news resource, with round-the-clock coverage to bring you local and international news as it happens, when it happens. ... is the 342nd day of the year (343rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Categories: South Africa stubs | Provinces of South Africa | Gauteng Province ...

External links

• Sterkfontein and Maropeng visitor attractions website
• Maropeng - The Cradle of Humankind Official Website
• UNESCO - Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs
• Cradle of Humankind Map

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in South Africa

Cape Floral Region Protected Areas · Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs · Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park · Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape · Robben Island · uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park · Vredefort Dome A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Fynbos is the natural shrubland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate. ... The Greater St. ... Mapungubwe was a city in southern Africa, flourishing from AD 1000 to AD 1300, that marked the center of a pre-Shona kingdom. ... Robben Island (Afrikaans Robben Eiland) is an island in Table Bay, 12 km off the coast from Cape Town, South Africa and is located at . ... The Drakensberg Drakensberg Range from space, April 1993 Maluti mountains in Lesotho The Drakensberg (Afrikaans for Dragons Mountain) mountains are the highest in Southern Africa, rising up at Thabana Ntlenyana to 3,482 m (11,422 ft) in height. ... Vredefort crater is the largest verified impact crater on Earth. ...