Ronald Clarke

The man who discovered ‘Little Foot’

The name Ronald Clarke ranks among the legends of palaeoanthropology not just at Sterkfontein, but around the world. Which is unsurprising given his discovery of “Little Foot”, the most complete hominin fossil ever found.

Clarke’s association with Sterkfontein stretches over more than five decades. Although now retired, he is still very much a part of the search for answers to the mystery of humanity’s origins. What continues to excite him is “the detective work involved, and the anticipation of finding and interpreting the unknown”.

And what better place to keep scratching that inexhaustible itch to know more about where we come from than the Cradle of Humankind? As Clarke himself puts it, “Sterkfontein is unique in its richness of fossils, covering a long period of time from 3.7-million years to the Middle Stone Age in one site. Swartkrans is unique in having large quantities of fossils of the large-toothed, flat-faced hominid Paranthropus, living at the same time as our direct ancestor Homo.”

Clarke’s road to the Cradle began in another hotbed of human evolution, East Africa, where as a young man he had worked for the famous palaeoanthropologist Dr Louis Leakey. (It was under Leakey that he learned how to work with fossils, acquiring vital skills that he has passed on to many of Sterkfontein’s staff.)

“While I was working for Louis Leakey in Nairobi in the 1960s, I assisted Professor Phillip Tobias when he visited to study the hominid fossils from Olduvai. In 1969, Louis Leakey sent me to Johannesburg and Pretoria, so that I could study the hominid fossils. On that occasion, I discovered in the Transvaal Museum a previously misidentified early Homo cranium from Swartkrans.

“Subsequently, Phillip Tobias invited me to come to South Africa to begin a PhD project on that fossil. Thus began my involvement in the sites of Swartkrans, Sterkfontein and Makapansgat,” says Clarke.

He completed his doctorate at Wits University on the cranium, known as SK 847, and has published on other hominin fossils from the site. From 1984 to 1986, he worked at Sterkfontein as a senior researcher, returning in 1991 as deputy director of the Palaeo-Anthropology Research Unit (later known as the Sterkfontein Research Unit, directed by Tobias) until he retired, when he became an honorary professor in the Evolutionary Studies Institute, a post he still occupies.

Most notable among Clarke’s work at Sterkfontein has been the discovery and excavation of “Little Foot”, the near-complete Australopithecus skeleton found in the Silberberg Grotto after Clarke identified four foot bones in a box of fossils at the university in 1994. The excavation, cleaning and preparation of “Little Foot” was only completed in 2017.

However, Clarke is also known for other work, including demonstrating a second species of Australopithecus (named A. prometheus) at the site, interpreting stratigraphy, discovering and excavating the first Oldowan stone tools in South Africa, as well as much other research on hominin fossils from the site. He currently takes part in research at Swartkrans, where renewed excavations have taken place under Professor Travis Pickering since 2005.

Clarke’s contributions to palaeoanthropology are significant, but at Sterkfontein his impact is felt most keenly by the fossil technicians and casters he trained, whose work is important the world over. They speak of him with great respect, and the feeling is mutual.

“The careful cleaning of the fossils encased in breccia done by technicians I have trained is important to preserve the fine details and clues on the fossils. The skilled methods the technicians use for making moulds and casts of the fossils are important for sharing our research internationally.

“Although CT scans are also important, especially for revealing internal details of anatomy, they do not replace the importance of having a three-dimensional replica for comparative research with other fossils, and for providing accurate exhibits for the public,” Clarke says.

Clarke remarks on the ability of one of his role models – Sterkfontein pioneer Dr Robert Broom – to also demystify the work done at the caves: “Robert Broom has inspired me for his ability to discover significant fossils and to understand them through his wide knowledge of animal skeletal morphology. I also find the clarity of his writing inspiring, as it makes the information accessible to the public.”