The Sterkfontein Caves, situated in the Cradle of Humankind,
represent one of the world’s richest fossil sites, and
discoveries there continue to astound the international
scientific community. Here is a collection of sometimes
surprising facts about the caves.
In the late 1890s gold miners
dynamited the Sterkfontein caves in search of limestone which they
converted into the quick lime required for processing gold. Their
explosions revealed entrances to the cave system.
Around 2.5-billion years ago, the area now known as the Cradle was a shallow inland sea.
Fossils discovered at the caves date back more than 4-million years and
are commonly accepted as representative of the birth of humanity.
An estimated 40% of all the world's human ancestor fossils have been found in the Cradle.
he Cradle of Humankind is one of 10 World Heritage Sites in South Africa, and the only one in Gauteng. It is widely recognised as the place from which all of humankind originated.
The 47 000-hectare
site has unearthed the best evidence of the complex journey that our
species has taken to make us what we are – and is therefore a place
of pilgrimage for all humankind. The area is not only a place of
ongoing scientific discovery into our origins, but also a place
of contemplation – a place that allows us to reflect on who we are,
where we come from and where we are going to.