Inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site incorporates 13 paleontological sites that together offer an unparalleled insight into the evolution of humankind.
t Sterkfontein Caves, where the partial remains of more than 500 individuals
EXPERIENCE Johannesburg and Gauteng
t Have been discovered
The Cradle of Humankind comprises an ancient Karstic landscape whose 2.5-billion-year-old dolomite bedrock started life as an ocean floor covered in blue-green algae. The dolomite is rich in soluble and erosive calcium carbonate, which seeps into the fault lines and gradually transforms them into gaping limestone caverns and sinkholes in which living creatures are frequently trapped and fossilized. Still under ongoing excavation, the caves have yielded numerous hominin fossils, representing a uniquely complete record of the last 3.2 million years of human evolution.
Insider Tip
Combined Entry
Make the most of your excursion to the Maropeng Visitors Centre by purchasing a combined ticket that includes entrance to the Sterkfontein Caves.
Exploring the Site
t The award-winning Maropeng Visitors Centre, shaped like a giant tumulus (burial mound)
The main focus for visitors is the innovative and child-friendly Maropeng Visitors Centre. Two-hour self-guided tours start with an exciting boat ride through a subterranean waterway, which emerges into a main hall with a series of well-thought-out displays documenting various aspects of human evolution. The only paleontological site open to the public is the Sterkfontein Caves, where “Mrs Ples” – a 2.3-million-year-old Australopithecus Africanus skull – was discovered in 1936, providing fossil confirmation of Darwin’s theory that humankind evolved in Africa.
Did You Know?
The Cradle of Humankind’s caves have yielded around 40 per cent of all known hominin fossils.
HOMO NALEDI
During 2013–15, a palaeontological team unearthed more than 1,500 hominin fossils belonging to around 15 individuals from Dinaledi Chamber in the Cradle of Humankind’s Rising Star Cave. These fossils were assigned to the previously unknown species Homo naledi, which combined typical Homo features with traits of other genera. Surprisingly, the fossils are only 250,000 years old, suggesting that H naledi was not ancestral to Homo sapiens but lived alongside it.