Numerous earlyhominin remains have been found at the site over the last few decades. These have been attributed toAustralopithecus, earlyHomo andParanthropus.
In 2024 the cave was closed to visitors by its owner due to flooding.[4] The caves reopened to the public on 15 April 2025.[5]
Modern excavation of the caves began in the late 1890s by limestone miners who noticed thefossils and brought them to the attention of scientists.
In 1936, students of ProfessorRaymond Dart and Dr.Robert Broom from theUniversity of the Witwatersrand began concerted excavations. The caves yielded the first adultAustralopithecine, substantially strengthening Dart's claim that the skull known as theTaung Child (anAustralopithecus africanus) was a human ancestor. There was a pause in excavation during World War II, but after the war Dr. Robert Broom continued excavations. In 1947, he found a nearly complete skull of an adult female (STS 5)A. africanus (or possibly that of an adolescent male). Broom initially named the skullPlesianthropus transvaalensis (near-man fromTransvaal), but it became better known by its nickname,Mrs. Ples. Mrs. Ples is now defined as a member ofA. africanus.
In 1984, Peter Verhulsel who was a member of cave diving expedition researching one of the caves was lost and ultimately starved to death after three weeks in the cave as rescue groups could not find him.[6]
In 1997, a nearly complete skeleton of a second species ofAustralopithecus (StW 573) was found in the caves byRonald J. Clarke; extraction of the remains from the surroundingbreccia is ongoing. The skeleton was namedLittle Foot, since the first parts found (in 1995, in storage) were the bones of a foot. Excavations continue to this day, and finds now total some 500 hominids, making Sterkfontein one of the richest sites in the world for early hominids. The Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust (PAST), a non-profit trust fund established in 1993, sponsors over 90% of the research undertaken at Sterkfontein and was instrumental in its nomination as a World Heritage Site.
The Member 4 deposits containing theAustralopithecus africanus fossils have been dated to between 2.6 and 2.0 Ma, with the Sts5 "Mrs. Ples" fossil estimated to date to between 2.05 and 2.01 Ma based on a combination ofUranium–lead dating andpalaeomagnetic analysis andelectron spin resonance dating[7][8][9][10] The StW 573 partial skeleton (Little Foot) was recovered from a separate infill at the site within the confines of the Silberberg Grotto. It is estimated to be around 2.6–2.2 Ma based on a combination ofuranium-lead dating and palaeomagnetic analysis[7] and belongs to a second species of australopith,Australopithecus prometheus. In contrast,surface exposure dating of sediments indicate that skeleton StW 573 has an age of approximately 4 million years.[11] While theflowstone dated in the uranium-lead dating has been shown to have formed later than the fossil, an age estimate of ~3 Ma suggested by the same authors[12] has little firm basis.[13] The palaeomagnetic analysis[7] remains the most credible age estimate based on the current data as it included work on both sediments and speleothem.
A slightly younger deposit (StW 53 infill) dated to between1.8 to 1.5 Mya has revealed the remains of a specimen of earlyHomo (StW 53). StW 53 has been described as similar toHomo habilis or as a novel new speciesHomo gautengensis.[14] No stone tools were associated with the fossil, but StW 53 has evidence for stone tool cut-marks.[15] Member 5 containsOldowan andAcheulian stone tools as well as specimens of earlyHomo andParanthropus and is dated to between 1.6 and 1.1 Mya.[7]
In 2022 cosmogenic nuclide dating found that the bulk of Member 4 is 3.4 million years old."[16] The team responsible for this work, which includes Clarke, says: "These results place nearly the entireAustralopithecus assemblage at Sterkfontein in the mid-Pliocene, contemporaneous withAustralopithecus afarensis in East Africa."[16] They say this discredits the assumption thatA. africanus descended fromA. afarensis.
Bruxelles, Laurent; Clarke, Ronald J.; Maire, Richard; Ortega, Richard; Stratford, Dominic (2014). "Stratigraphic analysis of the Sterkfontein StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton and implications for its age".Journal of Human Evolution.70:36–48.Bibcode:2014JHumE..70...36B.doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.014.ISSN0047-2484.PMID24698198.
Curnoe, D. (2010). "A review of earlyHomo in southern Africa focusing on cranial, mandibular and dental remains, with the description of a new species (Homo gautengensis sp. nov.)".Homo: Journal of Comparative Human Biology.61 (3):151–177.doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2010.04.002.PMID20466364.
Herries, A.I.R.; Hopley, P.J.; Adams, J.W.; Curnoe, D.; Maslin, M.A. (December 2010). "Letter to the editor: Geochronology and palaeoenvironments of Southern African hominin-bearing localities—A reply to Wrangham et al., 2009. 'Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins'".American Journal of Physical Anthropology.143 (4):640–646.doi:10.1002/ajpa.21389.PMID20872806.
Herries, Andy I. R.; Pickering, Robyn; Adams, Justin W.; Curnoe, Darren; Warr, Ginette; Latham, Alf G.; Shaw, John (2013). "A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective on the Age of Australopithecus in Southern Africa".The Paleobiology of Australopithecus. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. pp. 21–40.doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5919-0_3.ISBN978-94-007-5918-3.ISSN1877-9077.
Keeping, Malcolm G (1997). "Social Behavior and Brood Decline in Reproductive-phase Colonies OfBelonogaster Petiolata (Degeer) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)".Journal of Insect Behavior.10 (2):265–78.Bibcode:1997JIBeh..10..265K.doi:10.1007/bf02765559.S2CID41829420.
Pickering, T.R.; Clarke, R.J.; Heaton, J.L. (2004). "The Context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein M2: taphonomy and palaeoenvironment".J. Hum. Evol.46 (3):277–295.doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.12.001.PMID14984784.
