palaeontological
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
site located in the
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 concentrat ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
,
Gauteng
Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...
province, South Africa. Lost after its discovery in the 1930s, its location was rediscovered in 2009. It is known for its well-preserved
jackal
Jackals are Canidae, canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina (subtribe), canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-b ...
skulls, dating to the
Plio-Pleistocene
The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&n ...
at least 2 million years ago.
Geography
Minnaar's Cave is located about north-northeast of
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 K ...
and from
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 "Cr ...
, palaeoarchaeological sites also in the Cradle of Humankind. It covers an area of , making it the smallest known site in the Cradle of Humankind. It is bordered to the south by the Blaauwbank River. The site is dated to the
Plio-Pleistocene
The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&n ...
, about 2 Ma.
History
Minnaar's Cave area was first used as a lime mine in the early 20th century. A lime-burning kiln from this era is still on the site. There is also a graveyard dating back to the 1920s that is unrelated to the mine. Palaeontologist
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 ...
first explored Minnaar's Cave sometime between 1936 and 1939 during his expeditions into the
Transvaal
Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''.
* South African Republic (1856–1902; ...
region in search of
hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
fossils, but Broom only listed its location as "a cave about a mile away from
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 K ...
". Broom recovered 148 specimens from Minnaar's Cave, including a fossilized '' Thos antiquus'' (jackal) skull, which has been extensively studied by palaeontologists as the species's
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...
, albeit with no precise knowledge of its exact origins. Researchers attempted to rediscover the site multiple times over the subsequent decades, but the vague descriptions and field notes caused confusion. Different accounts variably placed Minnaar's Cave north, west, and east of Sterkfontein. It was theorized that Minnaar's Cave was actually another site called Hadeco, but this was dismissed as Hadeco was too distant from Sterkfontein.
In August 2009, a team from the
Ditsong National Museum of Natural History
The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly the Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa. It is located on Paul Kruger Street, between Visagie and Minnaar Streets, opposite the Pretoria City H ...
in
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
explored a site on private property that corresponded with descriptions of Minnaar given by Broom and later researchers.; it was just north of Sterkfontein and yielded fossils similar to those cataloged in the 1930s. Analysis of samples taken from this spot confirmed that this was indeed the lost Minnaar's Cave.
Most specimens from Minnaar are stored at the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History.
Species
Most of the specimens recovered from Minnaar's Cave have yet to be extracted from their
breccia
Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language ...
l
matrices
Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
* Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form
* Matrix (biology), the ...
; however, most of the fossils belong to
canids
Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of caniform carnivorans, constituting a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). The family includes three subfamilies: the Caninae, and the extinct Borophaginae ...
,
primate
Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
microfauna
Microfauna ( and ) are microscopic animals and organisms that exhibit animal-like qualities and have body sizes that are usually <0.1 mm. Microfauna are represented in the animal kingdom (e.g.
from the
Plio-Pleistocene
The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&n ...
Alcelaphinae
The subfamily Alcelaphinae (or Tribe (biology), tribe Alcelaphini), of the family Bovidae, contains the wildebeest, tsessebe, topi, hartebeest, blesbok and bontebok, and several other related species. Depending on the classification, there are 6� ...
, possibly
springbok
The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...
s; several species of the horse genus ''Equus'', particularly the extinct Cape horse; and '' Dinofelis barlowi'', a sabre-toothed cat.