The Cradle of Humankind

Today we rented a car and drove out to Sterkfontein to visit the Cradle of Humankind, an UNESCO World Heritage site that has been home to the discovery of more early hominids (mostly Austrolopithecus Africanus) than any other place in the world. We had a guided tour through some of the caves and saw the area in which "Little Foot" was found as well as the active excavation site where "Mrs Ples" was discovered. Little Foot was a more recent find but is significant in that it is a 98% complete skeleton fossil - one of if not the most complete early hominid fossil. The area in which he was discovered was actually blocked off by an electrified gate to protect the active excavation site from individuals who wished to damage the fossils due to beliefs in opposition to evolution; Little Foot's excavation was only completed in 2013 so there are arguably more fossils to be found in the area. Mrs Ples was a significant find several decades ago in that it was the first adult almost complete skull of Australopithecus Africanus found. Mrs. Ples was actually the second significant find in the area but lended more support to the theory that hominids evolved in Africa which was not an accepted theory at the time. We were also able to visit the museum at Maropeng which had several excellent exhibits about the evolution of humans as well as the impact humans have on their environment. While these are topics with which we are both familiar, we highly recommend the museum to anyone who is in the area; it was excellent.

We have been immensely enjoying our time in Johannesburg but are eager to head to Cape Town tomorrow! Yesterday we joined Rachel's old friend and classmate Fezile for lunch and tonight we are meeting up with another old friend of Rachel's Chenai for a birthday celebration dinner! (This post was updated later with photos from the day.)Read more