Ethiopia

South Africa is a sunny country right at the tip of Africa, and is home to the authors of this site! As a country with nine official languages, it a country full of cultural diversity. Like Kenya and Tanzania, it plays an important role in the conservation of wildlife, with the Kruger National Park as its main reserve, surrounded by many private parks.

Africa is also home to the Sterkfontein caves, Swartkrans and Kromdraai, some digs that have yielded fascinating and invaluable fossils.

South Africa: Image courtesy National Geographic

Sterkfontein:
Species:
Australopithecus africanus
Age:
Unknown
Description:
A part of a face , upper jaw and a brain case was found. It is the second africanus found.
Who:
Robert Broom
When:
1936
Species:
Homo habilis
Age:
1,5 to 2 million years old
Description:
Cranium fragments including teeth were found. Stone tools were also recovered in the same layer.
Who:
Alan Hughes
When:
1976

Taung:
"Taung Child"
Species:
Australopithecus africanus
Age:
2 to 3 million years old
Description:
The full face including teeth and jaw was found. It was an infant of 5 or 6 years with a brain capacity 410cc. The teeth were small and not apelike.
Who:
Raymond Dart
When:
1924
Reconstruction of the Taung Baby: courtesy of South African Encyclopaedia

Sterkfontein:
"Mrs Ples"
Species:
Australopithecus africanus
Age:
2,5 million years old
Description:
A cranium of an adult was found with a brain capacity of 485cc. It is known as the best specimen of an africanus found.
Who:
Robert Broom
When:
1947

Mrs Ples was a name derived from “Plesianthropus”, the specie name originally given to the skull by Dr Broom. Mrs Ples is believed to represent a distant relative of Homo sapiens that lived on the Highveld of South Africa approx. 2,5 million years ago. She is also one of the descendants of the common ancestor for humans and chimpanzees. The fossil is now housed at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, South Africa.

"Little Foot"
Species:
Australopithecus
Age:
3,5 million years old
Description:
First the foot was found, hence the name.
Who:
Ron Clarke and team
When:
9 December 1998
Little Foot got it’s name because of the first part of an amazing find at Sterkfontein Caves. The four initial foot bones were discovered during 1994, and dubbed “Little Foot”. Later the articulate parts of both legs were ncovered. This led them to believe that the rest of the skeleton was buried in the same place. After months of chiselling, not only did they find the rest of the skeleton, but the entire skull was in tact. This dream come true in December 1998, was a major advance in the paleantologists world of piecing our ancestory together.

Kromdraai:
Species:
Australopithecus robustus
Age:
Unknown
Description:
Skull fragments including 5 teeth. It was the first robustus specimen found.
Who:
Gert Terblanche (schoolboy)
When:
1938