Sterkfontein Caves!

What Are the Sterkfontein Caves?

A contributing site to the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, these caves are home to one of the world’s most prolific excavations of Australopithecus fossils!

What Makes It Historical?

First plundered by Italian lime miners in the late 1890s, the Sterkfontein Caves caught the attention of Dr. Robert Broom of the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, who received a hominid brain case from the mine manager on August 17, 1936 and kicked off large-scale excavations! In the following decades, Dr. Broom and John T. Robinson uncovered a remarkably complete hominid skull, which they called Plesianthropus transvaalensis, or Mrs. Ples for short, on April 18, 1947! She would later be recategorized as Australopithecus africanus, the species for which Sterkfontein Caves would become famous!

More A. africanus fossils have been found here than anywhere else in the world, but that’s far from all. Four species of three hominid genre—Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo—have been uncovered at Sterkfontein, alongside ancient Acheulian tools, the oldest in South Africa! Very recently (1994-2019), the most complete A. africanus skeleton, feet and all, has been painstakingly excavated. Estimated to be 3.67 million years old, “Little Foot” is so ancient, it may be an all-new species of Australopithecus!

How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?

Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
Donate to the Genus Palaeosciences!
Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!