Sterkfontein Caves

Sterkfontein

South Africa · Gauteng

CaveExcavation ongoingUNESCO · 1999
Approximate periodPliocene and Pleistocene See on the map ↓

In brief

Fossils related to human evolution and early stone tool technologies are being investigated in the cave deposits. Mrs Ples and the largely preserved Little Foot skeleton are the site's best-known finds.

What was found?

  • 1Mrs Ples skull

    This is a largely preserved adult skull belonging to the species Australopithecus africanus. By showing that the species was not represented solely by young individuals, it played an important role in debates about the Taung Child.

  • 2Little Foot skeleton

    This is an almost completely preserved Australopithecus skeleton. It allows locomotion to be investigated by comparing different parts of the body in the same individual.

  • 3Stone tools

    Examples of early stone tool technologies have been found in the cave deposits. They document the long history of tool use in South Africa.

  • 4Animal fossils

    Alongside fossils of human relatives, there are abundant animal remains. They help researchers understand the region's ancient environment and ecological changes over time.

What does it point to?

Sterkfontein allows human evolution to be investigated together with body structure, technology and environment. According to researchers, Little Foot's anatomy suggests that features suited to walking on two legs on the ground and climbing trees could coexist.

What did it teach us?

  1. Adult Australopithecus africanus fossils weakened the objection that the Taung Child was a young chimpanzee.
  2. It showed that bipedal locomotion and anatomy suited to climbing could coexist in the same individual.
  3. Fossils and stone tools jointly documented the region's biological and technological past.

Images

Sterkfontein Caves 9
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sterkfontein Caves 6
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sterkfontein Caves 7
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sterkfontein Caves 46
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Oldowan and Acheulean
First modern dig
1936
Team / historical
University of the Witwatersrand
Coordinates
-26.0166°, 27.7336°

Sources

  1. sterkfonteincaves.wits.ac.za
  2. whc.unesco.org
  3. whc.unesco.org
  4. wits.ac.za
  5. Smithsonian Institution — STS 5
  6. Witwatersrand Üniversitesi — Sterkfontein araştırmaları

Nearby excavations


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12.000

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