|
Sterkfontein
Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of Krugersdorp. The archaeological sites of Swartkrans and Kromdraai are in the same area. Sterkfontein is a South African National Heritage Site and was also declared a World Heritage Site in 2000. The area in which it is situated is known as the Cradle of Humankind. The Sterkfontein Caves are also home to numerous wild African species including '' Belonogaster petiolata'', a wasp species of which there is a large nesting presence. Numerous early hominin remains have been found at the site over the last few decades. These have been attributed to ''Australopithecus'', early ''Homo'' and '' Paranthropus''. In 2024 the cave was closed to visitors by its owner due to flooding. The caves reopened to the public on 15 April 2025. History of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesianthropus Transvaalensis
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. The first specimen, the Taung child, was species description, described by anatomist Raymond Dart in 1924, and was the first early hominin found. However, its closer relations to humans than to other apes would not become widely accepted until the middle of the century because most had believed humans evolved outside of Africa. It is unclear how ''A. africanus'' relates to other hominins, being variously placed as ancestral to ''Homo'' and ''Paranthropus'', to just ''Paranthropus'', or to just ''Paranthropus robustus, P. robustus''. The specimen "Little Foot" is the most completely preserved early hominin, with 90% of the skeleton intact, and the oldest South African australopith. However, it is controversially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australopithecus Africanus
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. The first specimen, the Taung child, was described by anatomist Raymond Dart in 1924, and was the first early hominin found. However, its closer relations to humans than to other apes would not become widely accepted until the middle of the century because most had believed humans evolved outside of Africa. It is unclear how ''A. africanus'' relates to other hominins, being variously placed as ancestral to ''Homo'' and ''Paranthropus'', to just ''Paranthropus'', or to just '' P. robustus''. The specimen " Little Foot" is the most completely preserved early hominin, with 90% of the skeleton intact, and the oldest South African australopith. However, it is controversially suggested that it and similar speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Foot
"Little Foot" (Stw 573) is the nickname given to a nearly complete ''Australopithecus'' fossil skeleton found in 1994–1998 in the cave system of Sterkfontein, South Africa. Originally nicknamed "little foot" in 1995 when four ankle bones in a museum collection were sufficient to ascertain that the individual had been able to walk upright, the remainder of the skeleton was, subsequently, located in the cave from which the ankle bones had been collected. Because the bones were completely embedded in concrete-like rock, their extremely difficult and tedious extraction took around 15 years. The bones proved to be the most complete skeleton of the early hominin lineage leading to humans, with 90% of the body being recovered. Dating of the specimen has proved controversial, with estimates ranging from 2.2 to 3.5 million years old, and its taxonomic placement is likewise disputed. Discovery Four ankle bones of this specimen were collected in 1980 but were unidentified among nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cradle Of Humankind
The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site that is located about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world. The site currently occupies and contains a complex system of limestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa. According to the '' South African Journal of Science'', Bolt's Farm is the place where the earliest primates were discovered. Bolt's Farm was heavily mined for speleothem (calcium carbonate from stalagmites, stalactites, and flowstones) in the terminal nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Sterkfontein Caves were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-old fossil '' Australopithecus africanus'' (nicknamed " Mrs. Ples"), found in 1947 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. The fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
STS 5
__NOTOC__ Mrs. Ples is the popular nickname for the most complete skull of an ''Australopithecus africanus'' ever found in South Africa. Many ''Australopithecus'' fossils have been found near Sterkfontein, about northwest of Johannesburg, in a region of Gauteng (part of the Transvaal (Province), old Transvaal) now designated as the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Mrs. Ples was discovered by Robert Broom and John Talbot Robinson, John T. Robinson on April 18, 1947. Because of Broom's use of dynamite and pickaxe while excavating, Mrs. Ples's skull was blown into pieces and some fragments are missing. Nonetheless, Mrs./Mr. Ples is one of the most "perfect" pre-human skulls ever found. The skull is currently held at the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria. The nickname "Mrs. Ples" was coined by Broom's young co-workers. It derives from the scientific name ''Plesianthropus transvaalensis'' (near-man from the Transvaal), that Broom initially gave the skull, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kromdraai
Kromdraai Conservancy is a protected conservation park located to the south-west of Gauteng province in north-east South Africa. It is in the Muldersdrift area not far from Krugersdorp. Etymology Its name is derived from Afrikaans meaning "Crooked Turn" after a kink in the meandering Crocodile River (Limpopo), Crocodile River. History It was established to protect the caves, old gold mines, fossil sites, trout farm and a game reserve in the area. The caves in the area, known as the Sterkfontein caves have an extensive number of fossils and Dolomite (rock), dolomite caverns. A well known fossil site is also named Kromdraai fossil site, Kromdraai and it, along with such sites as Sterkfontein, Coopers Cave South Africa, Coopers, Swartkrans and Plovers Lake form part of the conservancy. Part of the Kromdraai conservancy also falls within the Cradle of humankind, Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, proclaimed by UNESCO in 1998. Places of interest * Wonder Cave Kromdraai, W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of The Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley, it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation. The university has an enrollment of 37,295 students as of 2025, of which approximately 20 percent live on campus in the university's 17 residences. 63 percent of the university's total enrollment is for Undergraduate education, undergraduate study, with 35 percent being Postgraduate education, postgraduate and the remaining 2 percent being Occasional Students. The university has, as of 2024, an acceptance rate of approximately 4.5%, having received 140,000 applications but only having a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Broom
Robert Broom Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (30 November 1866 6 April 1951) was a British- South African medical doctor and palaeontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow. From 1903 to 1910, he was professor of zoology and geology at Stellenbosch University, Victoria College, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Stellenbosch, South Africa, and subsequently he became keeper of vertebrate palaeontology at the South African Museum, Cape Town. Life Broom was born at 66 Back Sneddon Street in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire, Scotland, the son of John Broom, a designer of calico prints and Paisley design, Paisley shawls, and Agnes Hunter Shearer. In 1893, he married Mary Baird Baillie, his childhood sweetheart. In his medical studies at the University of Glasgow Broom specialised in obstetrics. After graduating in 1895 he travelled to Australia, supporting himself by pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Australopithecus'' species. ''Australopithecus'' is a member of the subtribe Australopithecina, which sometimes also includes ''Ardipithecus'', though the term "australopithecine" is sometimes used to refer only to members of ''Australopithecus''. Species include ''Australopithecus garhi, A. garhi'', ''Australopithecus africanus, A. africanus'', ''Australopithecus sediba, A. sediba'', ''Australopithecus afarensis, A. afarensis'', ''Australopithecus anamensis, A. anamensis'', ''Australopithecus bahrelghazali, A. bahrelghazali'', and ''Australopithecus deyiremeda, A. deyiremeda''. Debate exists as to whether some ''Australopithecus'' species should be reclassified into new genera, or if ''Paranthropus'' and ''Kenyanthropus'' are synonymous with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swartkrans
Swartkrans or Swartkranz is a fossil-bearing cave designated as a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African National Heritage Site, located about from Johannesburg. It is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominin remains. Fossils discovered in the limestone of Swartkrans include ''Homo ergaster'' (a variety of ''Homo erectus''), ''Paranthropus'' and ''Homo habilis''. The oldest deposits present at the site are believed to be between 1.9 and 2.1 million years old. Noted paleontologist Robert Broom was a frequent digger. He was followed by Charles Kimberlin Brain, C. K. 'Bob' Brain, whose excavations at the site inspired his book ''The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy, The Hunters or the Hunted?'' in which he demonstrated that instead of being bloodthirsty killer apes, the hominin fossils found at the site were themselves victims of pred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belonogaster Petiolata
''Belonogaster petiolata'' is a species of primitively eusocial wasp that dwells in southern Africa, in temperate or subhumid climate zones. This wasp species has a strong presence in South Africa and has also been seen in northern Johannesburg. Many colonies can be found in caves. The Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa, for example, contain large populations of ''B. petiolata''.Keeping, Malcolm G. "Social Behavior and Brood Decline in Reproductive-phase Colonies Of ''Belonogaster Petiolata'' (Degeer) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)." Journal of Insect Behavior 10.2 (1997): 265-78. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. This species primarily eats small insects, especially caterpillars, which are considered its "solid food", while nectar is its liquid food. It also requires water for survival.Keeping, Malcolm G. "Social Organization and Division of Labour in Colonies of the Polistine Wasp, ''Belonogaster Petiolata''." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 31.3 (1992): n. pag. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. Taxonomy an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Heritage Sites (South Africa)
Section 27 of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA) of South Africa provides for places of historic or cultural importance to be designated national heritage sites. This came into effect with the introduction of the Act on 1 April 2000, when all former national monuments declared by the former National Monuments Council and its predecessors became provincial heritage sites as provided for in Section 58 of the Act. Both national and provincial heritage sites are protected under the terms of Section 27 of the NHRA, and a permit is required to work on them. National heritage sites are declared and administered by the national heritage resources authority, SAHRA; provincial heritage sites fall within the domain of the various provincial heritage resources authorities. The SAHRA logo is used to mark national heritage sites. Current sites Currently proclaimed national heritage sites are: * Cradle of Humankind ** Bolt's Farm ** Coopers Cave ** Drimolen ** Gladysvale ** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
