Cradle of Mankind

By Rebecca Hernandez

An artists impression of Australopithecus africanus, our ancestor.

Conveniently located only 45 minutes away from Johannesburg in Gauteng, this is a destination that would make both cave geeks and anthropology nuts drool. The Cradle of Humankind consists of twelve dolomite caves which contain the remains of plants, animals and hominids dating back millions of years.

The caves have a rich anthropological history. Seven of the twelve caves have revealed around 850 hominid fossils, including the first australopithecine remains that were discovered in 1936.

In 1947 the famous ‘Mrs. Ples’ (short for Plesianthropus transvaalensis, its original name) was discovered here: an almost complete skull of a female Australopithecus africanus which dates back to over 2 million years ago.

An excavation of the Sterkfontein cave which has been ongoing since 1966 (and viewable from a wooden walkway) has revealed 500 more hominid remains.

The list continues: part of the site named Swartkrans is where the first Homo ergaster remains in Africa were found. In addition to all of the hominid remains found at the Cradle of Humankind, fossils from extinct zebra, saber-toothed cats, giant hyenas, and rodent fossils which date back 4.5 million years.

Housing all of these finds are caves containing the usual spectacular formations you’d expect to find in a site like this. Two of the caves are open to the public, the Sterkfontein and Wonder Caves, and tours are conducted, ‘no crawling necessary’, although I don’t think I’d mind crawling around a bit to see the contents of this anthropological treasure trove.

Time required: a day.

Money: ££

More information: CradleOfHumankind.co.za

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