Sterkfontein Caves
The Sterkfontein Caves, located in the Sterkfontein valley about 50km north-west of Johannesburg in the Cradle of Humankind (26°00'59.6"S 27°44'01.0"E), has been a fundamental source of information about our evolution since the first fossils were discovered in the late 1930s.
The fossils and stone tools found in the ancient sediments that accumulated in the extensive cave system document millions of years of evolution of the environment, the animals that lived in the area, the emergence of some of the earliest stone tool technology found in Southern Africa, and of course, the evolution of us.
Despite Sterkfontein being recognised as a valuable geological site in the late 1890s, the caves were first exploited by lime miners. The miners used dynamite to remove the stalagmites, stalactites and flowstones that had formed inside the caves over millions of years. Mining continued for over 30 years at Sterkfontein, during which innumerable fossils were destroyed and many were dumped on the landscape surface, where, in the early 1900s, fossils could be collected by anyone visiting the site.
Following the first major hominin discovery at Sterkfontein in 1936, by Robert Broom, major discoveries of fossils and stone tools have continued to be made through research excavations. These discoveries have shaped how we understand hominin evolution in Southern Africa over the past 3.6-million years.
The site remains as productive as ever with a full-time research and technical team applying new, cutting-edge technology to the large fossil faunal collections and stone tool assemblages. New fossil discoveries are being made all the time and we have a dynamic, diverse team working on these discoveries every day.