Hominid Sites

Thanks to the hospitality of Franicis Thackeray, I was able to visit many of the nearby hominid-bearing fossil sites scattered throughout the caves of the north part of South Africa. I was able to see Kromdraai A and Kromdraai B, Sterkfrontein, and Swartkrans.


To get to the site at Kromdraai, one must first cross these bored looking
bovine. The site is on a private farm but The University of Witwatersrand has set up a research station on the far hill. So far, no hominid fossils have been found at Kromdraai B, only stone tools. However, Kromdraai A has yielded numerous postcranial remains.

Sterkfontein has been a rich source of hominid discoveries for centuries. Some of the most notable finds include the Australopithecus africnaus crania, STS 5 (Mrs. Ples) and more recently Little Foot (the skeleton of an australopithecine that most likely fell to its death. The excavation of Little Foot continues by the University of Witwatersrand.




NEXT