| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
  Cradle of Humankind | |
| Location | South Africa |
| Criteria | Cultural: iii, vi |
| Reference | 915 |
| Inscription | 1999 (23rdSession) |
| Extensions | 2015 |
TheCradle of Humankind[1][2][3] is apaleoanthropological site that is located about 50 km (31 mi) northwest ofJohannesburg, South Africa, in theGauteng province. Declared aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO in 1999,[4] the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world.[5] The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (120,000 acres)[6] and contains a complex system oflimestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites isFossil Hominid Sites of South Africa.
According to theSouth African Journal of Science,Bolt's Farm is the place where the earliest primates were discovered.[7] Bolt's Farm was heavily mined forspeleothem (calcium carbonate fromstalagmites,stalactites, andflowstones) in the terminal nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[8]
TheSterkfontein Caves were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-oldfossilAustralopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples"), found in 1947 byRobert Broom andJohn T. Robinson. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery byRaymond Dart of the juvenileAustralopithecus africanus skull known as the "Taung Child" atTaung in theNorth West Province of South Africa, where excavations still continue.
Nearby, but not in the site, theRising Star Cave system contains theDinaledi Chamber (chamber of stars), in which were discovered fifteen fossilskeletons of anextinct species ofhominin, provisionally namedHomo naledi.
Sterkfontein alone has produced more than a third of early hominid fossils found prior to 2010.[9] The Dinaledi Chamber contains more than 1,500H. naledi bone specimens from at least 15 individuals, the most extensive discovery of a single hominid species ever found in Africa.[10]
The nameCradle of Humankind reflects the fact that the site has produced a substantially large number ofhominin fossils, some of the oldest yet found, dating as far back as 3.5 million years ago.[1][2][3]
−10 — – −9 — – −8 — – −7 — – −6 — – −5 — – −4 — – −3 — – −2 — – −1 — – 0 — |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In 1935, Robert Broom found the first human fossils at Sterkfontein and began work at this site. In 1938, a young schoolboy, Gert Terrblanche, brought Raymond Dart fragments of a skull from nearbyKromdraai that later were identified asParanthropus robustus. Also in 1938, a single human tooth was found at theCooper's Cave site between Kromdraai and Sterkfontein.
In 1948, the Camp-Peabody Expedition from the United States worked at Bolts Farm andGladysvale looking for fossil hominids, but failed to find any. Later in 1948, Robert Broom identified the first hominid remains fromSwartkrans cave.
In 1954,C. K. Brain began working at sites in the Cradle, including Cooper's Cave. He then initiated his three-decade work at Swartkrans cave, which resulted in the recovery of the second-largest sample of hominid remains from the Cradle. The oldest controlled use of fire by Homo erectus also was discovered at Swartkrans and dated to more than 1 million years ago.[11][12]
In 1966,Phillip Tobias began his excavations of Sterkfontein that are still continuing and are the longest continuously running fossil excavations in the world.
In 1991,Lee Berger of theUniversity of the Witwatersrand discovered the first hominid specimens from the Gladysvale site, making it 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-completeAustralopithecus skeleton of "Little Foot", then dated to approximately 3.3 million years ago (more recent dating suggests it is closer to 2.5 million years ago), was discovered byRon Clarke.
In 2001, Steve Churchill ofDuke University and Lee Berger found early modern human remains at Plovers Lake. Also in 2001, the first hominid fossils and stone tools were discoveredin-situ at Cooper's Cave. In 2008, Lee Berger discovered the partial remains of two hominids (Australopithecus sediba) who lived between 1.78 and 1.95 million years ago in theMalapa Fossil Site.
In October 2013, Berger commissioned geologist Pedro Boshoff to investigate cave systems in the Cradle of Humankind for the express purpose of discovering more fossil hominin sites. Cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker discovered hominid fossils in a previously unexplored area of the Rising Star-Westminster Cave System that is assigned site designation UW-101. In November 2013, Berger led a joint expedition of the University of the Witwatersrand and National Geographic Society to the Rising Star Cave System near Swartkrans. In just three weeks of excavation, the six-woman international team of advancespeleological scientists (K. Lindsay Eaves, Marina Elliott,Elen Feuerriegel, Alia Gurtov, Hannah Morris, and Becca Peixotto), chosen for their paleoanthropological and caving skills, as well as their small size, recovered more than 1,200 fossil specimens of an unidentified hominin species. As of 2015, the site remained in the process of being dated. In September 2015, Berger, in collaboration with National Geographic, announced the discovery of a new species of human relative, namedHomo naledi, from UW-101.[13][14][15] Most remarkably, besides shedding light on the origins and diversity of the Homo genus,H. naledi also appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to later Homo species.[16][17] In the last days of the Rising Star Expedition, cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker discovered additional fossil hominid material in another portion of the cave system. Preliminary excavations at this site, designated UW-102, had begun by 2013 and yielded complete hominid fossil material of its own. The relationship of site 101 to 102 is not known.[18][19][20]
The hominin remains that fossilised over time at the Cradle of Humankind are found indolomitic caves, and are often encased in a mixture of limestone and other sediments calledbreccia. Early hominids may have lived throughout Africa, but their remains are found only at sites where conditions allowed for the formation and preservation of fossils.[21]
On 7 December 2005, South African PresidentThabo Mbeki opened the new Maropeng Visitors Centre at the site.[22] Per the maropeng.co.za website, visitors may see fossils, view stone tools, and learn about the birth of humankind in the visitors centre. The visitors centre also offers a tour of the Sterkfontein Caves and the exhibition atSterkfontein. A light, moveable, steel structure known as the Beetle has been placed over theMalapa site, to allow the paying public to viewexcavations, once they resume at the site. (Digging has been on hold since 2009, when the remains of fourA. sediba individuals were removed.)[23][needs update]
Maropeng, which means 'the place where we come from,' is expected to receive over 500 000 visitors annually, according to theGauteng provincial government.
| Sites |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fossils | |||||
| Anthropology |
| ||||
For official site names, see each article or theList of World Heritage Sites in South Africa. | ||
|  | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
