{"id":7215,"date":"2019-12-04T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/?p=7215"},"modified":"2026-06-24T15:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:22:45","slug":"the-sterkfontein-caves-and-little-foot-2016-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/uncategorized\/the-sterkfontein-caves-and-little-foot-2016-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sterkfontein Caves and Little Foot (2006-2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Sterkfontein Caves, situated in the Cradle of Humankind about 40 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg, represent one of the world\u2019s richest sites in hominid fossils, and discoveries there continue to astound the international scientific community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The discovery, excavation and research on Little Foot through the years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1890s gold miners dynamited the Sterkfontein Caves in search of limestone which they converted into the quick lime required for processing gold. Their explosions revealed entrances to the cave system as well as a profusion of fossil bone fragments from millions of years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1936, palaeontologist Robert Broom began collecting fossils that had been blasted out by the miners. Many discoveries were made in the field of palaeoanthropology at the Sterkfontein Caves, particularly the finding of the first adult Australopithecus africanus<\/em> in 1936, which followed the discovery in 1924 by Raymond Dart of the Taung child, the first Australopithecus<\/em> fossil ever found. At Sterkfontein on April 18, 1947, Mrs Ples, the most complete skull of an Australopithecus africanus<\/em> ever found, was discovered by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, Professor Ronald J. Clarke (University of the Witwatersrand<\/a>) discovered the first four foot bones of a fossil nicknamed Little Foot, which led in 1997 to locating of the oldest Australopithecus<\/em> skeleton found in South Africa and the most complete Australopithecus<\/em> skeleton ever found in Africa (up to 97 %). In 2015 it was dated at 3,67 million years old. South Africa was the first region in Africa to produce very early fossils of our ancestors. Little Foot is described by Ronald J. Clarke and his team as Australopithecus prometheus<\/em> \u2013 and not as Australopithecus africanus.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n