Kgame Abel Molepolle

‘The last hominid born at Sterkfontein’

Kgame Abel Molepolle has stronger ties to the Sterkfontein Caves than anyone else working on the excavations there. That’s because he is the only one to have been born there.

In fact, as his mentor Professor Ron Clarke jokes, Molepolle is “the last hominid born at Sterkfontein”. And indeed he is, coming into the world in a tent at the site in 1967.

“My father, David Molepolle, was working here at the time, in the same job as mine,” says Molepolle, who is a fossil preparator. His responsibilities include excavations, identifying and preparing fossils, and perhaps most importantly, creating identical replicas of some of the world’s most important fossils, such as the famous Little Foot skeleton.

Molepolle essentially grew up at Sterkfontein, like many of his colleagues. He spent his holidays there, and he was fascinated by his father’s work. But getting a job there once he was grown was initially a challenge.

“I spoke to Professor Ron Clarke, who spoke to Professor Philip Tobias (the then Sterkfontein supervisor). He didn’t want to hire me here, and Prof. Clarke asked me to write a letter to him. Then he changed his mind,” recalls Molepolle.

It’s a good thing that Tobias did change his mind because according to the current supervisor, Professor Dominic Stratford, Molepolle and his colleague Moyagabo Andrew Phaswana are among the best in the world at what they do.

Beginning in November 1999, Molepolle would come to learn almost everything he knows from Clarke. “I know this job today because of him, even casting,” he says.

His work is slow and meticulous, requiring patience and care. With an air scribe, an engraving tool, he removes breccia from fossils, grain by grain. The fossil cannot be damaged under any circumstances.

“I like preparing fossils. Sometimes I find a bone. I want to clean it and see what it is,” says Molepolle. “I’ve learned many things about this place: hominids, monkeys, bovids and carnivores. There’s a lot to learn.”

Molepolle enjoys the fact that the place of his birth is one of the foremost sites on Earth for explaining the birth of humanity.

“Sterkfontein is a very important place for students to come and study, from all over the world,” he says.