I recently visited the Cradle of Humankind, home to the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site, which sits about 30 kilometres outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. This region, Maropeng, is scattered with numerous archaeological sites that contain fossils and preserved skeletons of all sorts including the canidae, felidae, bovidae and hominid families. As you may remember, I touched briefly on the anthropological importance of the Great Rift Valley whilst in Kenya in June 2015. Whilst at the Nairobi National Museum, I had some great exposure to skeletal remains, casts and insight into the ancient hominids, including Lucy, the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis (found and maintained in Ethiopia). Like the Great Rift, the Cradle of Humankind is a region that has become hugely important in our understanding of early humans over the past few million years (give-or-take).
My favourite subject at high school was, unsurprisingly, biology. I loved learning about cells, their composition and how they functioned collectively at an organism- and ecosystem-level. One elective course in year 11 was on human evolution where we studied everything in the primate world, past and present: the apes, new world and old world monkeys, and the hominid species that came before us including the australopithecines, paranthopines, and homos. Even today, I still wish I could have spent more time studying palaeoanthropology!
The Cradle of Humankind is an active palaeoanthropological site, with the University of Witwatersrand continuing to explore the large network of cave systems, chambers and sinkholes. In fact, many of the most important finds have been located only in the past 10-20 years. One of these, discoveries occurred at the Sterkfontein cave system, a network of limestone caves, recently in 1994. The find, a near complete skeleton named “Little Foot”, is believed to be an early Australopithecine of approximately 2.2 million years old. Using dental needles as the primary extraction tool, this skeleton took approximately 16 years to excavate (ok, so I’m probably too impatient to ever take up palaeoanthropology).
The landscape at Maropeng consists of the rolling grasslands typical of South Africa’s Highveld (not too dissimilar from the New South Wales Southern Highlands). On a sunny Sunday, one’s eyes tend to focus on the few clouds slowly passing and the cows scattered across the farmland. My eyes are also darting side-to-side to spot any springbok. It’s hard to identify where there fossil sites are though, which seemingly blend in with the surrounding environment.
All the sites are underground, which comprise a massive network of caverns, tunnels and some lakes. So much of it remains unexplored, and so new discoveries will undoubtedly make news in the future. A couple of these are open to visitors in order to understand both the geology of the sites, but also appreciate the challenges and difficulties involved in the discovery of the past.
The Maropeng Visitors Centre opened a few years ago and now provides a rich, modern museum that documents the importance of anthropological findings in the region, and also tells the story of humankind in a way that appeals to both kids and adults (I firmly rest in the former category). It is a fantastic illustration of a modern, relevant government-sponsored cultural program.
Thanks to Lesala for the awesome photos, under difficult (and very dark) conditions.
With the Christmas break so temptingly close, I have only three more days at work in Botswana before undertaking a 2.5 week roadtrip through the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape of South Africa. Stay tuned.