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An Ancient Fossil Treasure Chest
The Sterkfontein Valley area can be compared to a time capsule that has protected some of humanity's most ancient secrets. Just 45 minutes drive west of the urban skyline of Johannesburg, lies a valley system that is one of the world's most important palaeontological sites. Within the dolomitic hills around Krugersdorp, in an area that has been declared South Africa's first World Heritage Site, are six locations of major prehistorical significance. From these sites - Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, Gladysvale, Drimolen and Coopers - is a fossil record that stretches back 3,5 million years, providing an insight into the emergence of our earliest ancestors. Sterkfontein itself is the longest-running archaeological dig in the world, having been continuously excavated since 1966 by researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand. For 30 years before that there had been sporadic excavations since the discovery by palaeontologist Dr Robert Broom of the first adult ape-man in 1936. Over the course of these years thousands and thousands of fossils have been discovered, including ancient plant remains and a number of extinct mammal species, including at least four types of early hominid. Hominids are upright walking creatures that are not necessarily part of the human lineage. The recognized hominids discovered so far are two types of ape-man, Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus robustus, and two early members of our own genus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus. Sterkfontein's appeal as a habitat for early hominids is clear. It had a number of caves for shelter, there was a variety of animals that could be hunted or scavenged, and water was in plentiful supply. Fossil plants remains indicate that the Gauteng area was a subtropical environment up until roughly two million years ago. Scientists believe that Sterkfontein may contain evidence of a "speciation" event that happened between 2,8 and 2,6 million years ago in which the gracile A africanus began taking on more human-like characteristics. However, the theory that A africanus was ancestral to the genus Homo is a point of contention in the scientific community with many believing that it developed rather into the robust ape man which became extinct around one million years ago. Among Sterkfontein's more famous fossils is "Mrs Ples", a gracile australopithecine, and "Little Foot", an ape man who's foot bones may show the transition from a tree-climbing lifestyle to one of upright walking.
Fossils were first found at Sterkfontein in 1895 by a group of boys from Marist Brothers College in Johannesburg, and then subsequently by prospectors and miners. In all probability limeworkers would have dynamited the caves to destruction had it not been for a Mr David Draper who in 1897 persuaded the company that owned the mineral rights to preserve the main cave because of its impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations and underground lake.
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