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{{Short description|Paleoanthropological site near Johannesburg, South Africa}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use South African English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
|WHS= Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa
|location=South Africa
|Image={{Location map
|South Africa
|label=Cradle of Humankind
|lat=-25.96716
|long=27.66245
|caption=
}}
|Criteria= Cultural: iii, vi
|ID=915
|Year=1999
|Extension=2015
}}

The '''Cradle of Humankind'''<ref name=Fleminger2008/><ref name=Fleminger/><ref name=Wayman/> is a [[Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropological]] site that is located about {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} northwest of [[Johannesburg]], South Africa, in the [[Gauteng]] province. Declared a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]] in 1999,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Cradle-of-Humankind/601978|title=Why is the Cradle of Humankind important?}}</ref> the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/fossils-cradle-humankind-site-reignite-debate-origins-humans-rcna35867|title=Fossils in the Cradle of Humankind site reignite debate over origins of humans|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=2022-06-30 | accessdate=2023-02-21 }}</ref> The site currently occupies {{convert|47000|ha|acre}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maropeng.co.za/index.php/about/|title=Maropeng a'Afrika and the Cradle of Humankind|publisher=maropeng.co.za|access-date=9 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423235449/http://maropeng.co.za/index.php/about/|archive-date=23 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> and contains a complex system of [[limestone]] caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is '''Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa'''.

According to the ''[[South African Journal of Science]]'', [[Bolt's Farm]] is the place where the earliest primates were discovered.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2013 |title=Research Briefs |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2013/a0017 |journal=South African Journal of Science |volume=109 |issue=5/6 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1590/sajs.2013/a0017 |issn=0038-2353|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Bolt's Farm was heavily mined for [[speleothem]] (calcium carbonate from [[Stalagmite|stalagmites]], [[Stalactite|stalactites]], and [[Flowstone|flowstones]]) in the terminal nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Tara R. |last2=Armstrong |first2=Brian J. |last3=Birkett-Rees |first3=Jessie |last4=Blackwood |first4=Alexander F. |last5=Herries |first5=Andy I.R. |last6=Penzo-Kajewski |first6=Paul |last7=Pickering |first7=Robyn |last8=Adams |first8=Justin W. |date=2019-01-14 |title=Combining legacy data with new drone and DGPS mapping to identify the provenance of Plio-Pleistocene fossils from Bolt's Farm, Cradle of Humankind (South Africa) |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=7 |pages=e6202 |doi=10.7717/peerj.6202 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=6336010 |pmid=30656072 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[Sterkfontein|Sterkfontein Caves]] were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-old [[fossil]] ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'' (nicknamed "[[Mrs. Ples]]"), found in 1947 by [[Robert Broom]] and [[John T. Robinson]]. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery by [[Raymond Dart]] of the juvenile ''Australopithecus africanus'' skull known as the "[[Taung Child]]" at [[Taung]] in the [[North West (South African province)|North West Province]] of South Africa, where excavations still continue.

Nearby, but not in the site, the [[Rising Star Cave]] system contains the [[Dinaledi Chamber]] (chamber of stars), in which were discovered fifteen fossil [[skeletons]] of an [[extinct species]] of [[hominin]], provisionally named ''[[Homo naledi]]''.

[[Sterkfontein]] alone has produced more than a third of early hominid fossils found prior to 2010.<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=David|title=Visit to the Cradle of Humankind|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/15/sterkfontein-caves-south-africa|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=20 May 2010 | location=London | date=15 January 2010}}</ref> The Dinaledi Chamber contains more than 1,500 ''H. naledi'' bone specimens from at least 15 individuals, the most extensive discovery of a single hominid species ever found in Africa.<ref name=SciAm.Mysterious>{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Kate |title = Mysterious New Human Species Emerges from Heap of Fossils |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysterious-new-human-species-emerges-from-heap-of-fossils/ |date=10 September 2015 |work=[[Scientific American]] |access-date=12 September 2015 }}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The name ''Cradle of Humankind'' reflects the fact that the site has produced a substantially large number of [[hominin]] fossils, some of the oldest yet found, dating as far back as 3.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name=Fleminger2008>{{cite book|last=Fleminger|first=David|title=The Cradle of Humankind|year=2008|publisher=30° South Publishers|isbn=978-0-9584891-3-3|pages=7–10}}</ref><ref name=Fleminger>{{Cite web|url=http://www.davidfleminger.co.za/books/cradle-of-humankind/|title=Cradle of Humankind – David Fleminger|language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203002245/https://davidfleminger.co.za/books/cradle-of-humankind/ |archive-date=2020-02-03  |url-status=dead|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref><ref name=Wayman>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-human-evolution-world-tour-10925648/|title=The Human Evolution World Tour|last=Wayman|first=Erin|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref>

== History of discoveries ==
{{Human timeline}}

In 1935, Robert Broom found the first human fossils at Sterkfontein and began work at this site. In 1938, a young schoolboy, Gert Terrblanche, brought Raymond Dart fragments of a skull from nearby [[Kromdraai fossil site|Kromdraai]] that later were identified as ''[[Paranthropus robustus]]''. Also in 1938, a single human tooth was found at the [[Cooper's Cave]] site between Kromdraai and Sterkfontein. 

In 1948, the Camp-Peabody Expedition from the United States worked at Bolts Farm and [[Gladysvale Cave|Gladysvale]] looking for fossil hominids, but failed to find any. Later in 1948, Robert Broom identified the first hominid remains from [[Swartkrans]] cave. 

In 1954, [[Charles Kimberlin Brain|C. K. Brain]] began working at sites in the Cradle, including Cooper's Cave. He then initiated his three-decade work at Swartkrans cave, which resulted in the recovery of the second-largest sample of hominid remains from the Cradle. The oldest controlled use of fire by Homo erectus also was discovered at Swartkrans and dated to more than 1 million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brain|first1=CK|last2=Sillen|first2=A|title=Evidence from the Swartkrans Cave for the earliest use of fire|journal=Nature|volume=336|year=1988|issue=6198|pages=464:466|doi=10.1038/336464a0|bibcode=1988Natur.336..464B|s2cid=4318364}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hilton Barber|first1=Brett|last2=Berger|first2=Lee R|title=Field Guide to the Cradle of Human Kind: Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs World Heritage Site.|date=December 2004 |publisher=Penguin Random House|location=Cape Town| isbn=9781770070653 | page=75| edition=First| url=http://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/field-guide-cradle-humankind/9781770070653|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref>

In 1966, [[Phillip V. Tobias|Phillip Tobias]] began his excavations of Sterkfontein that are still continuing and are the longest continuously running fossil excavations in the world. 

In 1991, [[Lee R. Berger|Lee Berger]] of the [[University of the Witwatersrand]] discovered the first hominid specimens from the Gladysvale site, making it the first new early hominid site to be discovered in South Africa in 48 years. In 1994, [[Andre Keyser]] discovered fossil hominids at the site of Drimolen. In 1997, Kevin Kuykendall and Colin Menter of the University of the Witwatersrand found two fossil hominid teeth at the site of Gondolin. Also in 1997, the near-complete ''Australopithecus'' skeleton of "[[Little Foot]]", then dated to approximately 3.3&nbsp;million years ago (more recent dating suggests it is closer to 2.5&nbsp;million years ago), was discovered by [[Ronald J. Clarke|Ron Clarke]]. 

In 2001, Steve Churchill of [[Duke University]] and Lee Berger found early modern human remains at Plovers Lake. Also in 2001, the first hominid fossils and stone tools were discovered ''in-situ'' at Cooper's Cave. In 2008, Lee Berger discovered the partial remains of two hominids (''[[Australopithecus sediba]]'') who lived between 1.78 and 1.95&nbsp;million years ago in the [[Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind|Malapa Fossil Site]].

In October 2013, Berger commissioned geologist Pedro Boshoff to investigate cave systems in the Cradle of Humankind for the express purpose of discovering more fossil hominin sites. Cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker discovered hominid fossils in a previously unexplored area of the Rising Star-Westminster Cave System that is assigned site designation UW-101. In November 2013, Berger led a joint expedition of the University of the Witwatersrand and National Geographic Society to the Rising Star Cave System near Swartkrans. In just three weeks of excavation, the six-woman international team of advance [[speleological]] scientists (K. Lindsay Eaves, Marina Elliott, [[Elen Feuerriegel]], Alia Gurtov, Hannah Morris, and Becca Peixotto), chosen for their paleoanthropological and caving skills, as well as their small size, recovered more than 1,200 fossil specimens of an unidentified hominin species. As of 2015, the site remained in the process of being dated. In September 2015, Berger, in collaboration with National Geographic, announced the discovery of a new species of human relative, named ''[[Homo naledi]]'', from UW-101.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/newly-discovered-human-ancestor-likely-ritualistically-disposed-its-dead|title=New Species of Human Discovered in South Africa|work=IFLScience|access-date=10 September 2015|archive-date=24 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160524163630/http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/newly-discovered-human-ancestor-likely-ritualistically-disposed-its-dead|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910155237/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 September 2015|title=This Face Changes the Human Story. But How?|author=Photograph Mark Thiessen, National Geographic|work=National Geographic|date=10 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa|journal=eLife|volume=4|doi=10.7554/eLife.09560|pmid=26354291|pmc=4559886|year=2015|last1=Berger|first1=Lee R.|last2=Hawks|first2=John|last3=De Ruiter|first3=Darryl J.|last4=Churchill|first4=Steven E.|last5=Schmid|first5=Peter|last6=Delezene|first6=Lucas K.|last7=Kivell|first7=Tracy L.|last8=Garvin|first8=Heather M.|last9=Williams|first9=Scott A.|last10=Desilva|first10=Jeremy M.|last11=Skinner|first11=Matthew M.|last12=Musiba|first12=Charles M.|last13=Cameron|first13=Noel|last14=Holliday|first14=Trenton W.|last15=Harcourt-Smith|first15=William|last16=Ackermann|first16=Rebecca R.|last17=Bastir|first17=Markus|last18=Bogin|first18=Barry|last19=Bolter|first19=Debra|last20=Brophy|first20=Juliet|last21=Cofran|first21=Zachary D.|last22=Congdon|first22=Kimberly A.|last23=Deane|first23=Andrew S.|last24=Dembo|first24=Mana|last25=Drapeau|first25=Michelle|last26=Elliott|first26=Marina C.|last27=Feuerriegel|first27=Elen M.|last28=Garcia-Martinez|first28=Daniel|last29=Green|first29=David J.|last30=Gurtov|first30=Alia|display-authors=29 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Most remarkably, besides shedding light on the origins and diversity of the Homo genus, ''H. naledi'' also appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to later Homo species.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wits.ac.za/homonaledi/|title=Homo naledi - Wits University|first=The University of the Witwatersrand|last=Johannesburg|website=www.wits.ac.za}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Geological and taphonomic context for the new hominin species Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa|journal=eLife|volume=4|doi=10.7554/eLife.09561|pmid=26354289|pmc=4559842|year=2015|last1=Dirks|first1=Paul HGM|last2=Berger|first2=Lee R.|last3=Roberts|first3=Eric M.|last4=Kramers|first4=Jan D.|last5=Hawks|first5=John|last6=Randolph-Quinney|first6=Patrick S.|last7=Elliott|first7=Marina|last8=Musiba|first8=Charles M.|last9=Churchill|first9=Steven E.|last10=De Ruiter|first10=Darryl J.|last11=Schmid|first11=Peter|last12=Backwell|first12=Lucinda R.|last13=Belyanin|first13=Georgy A.|last14=Boshoff|first14=Pedro|last15=Hunter|first15=K. Lindsay|last16=Feuerriegel|first16=Elen M.|last17=Gurtov|first17=Alia|last18=Harrison|first18=James du G.|last19=Hunter|first19=Rick|last20=Kruger|first20=Ashley|last21=Morris|first21=Hannah|last22=Makhubela|first22=Tebogo V.|last23=Peixotto|first23=Becca|last24=Tucker|first24=Steven |doi-access=free }}</ref> In the last days of the Rising Star Expedition, cavers Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker discovered additional fossil hominid material in another portion of the cave system. Preliminary excavations at this site, designated UW-102, had begun by 2013 and yielded complete hominid fossil material of its own. The relationship of site 101 to 102 is not known.<ref name = "RisingStar">{{cite news|url = http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/tag/rising-star-expedition/|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131107202308/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/tag/rising-star-expedition/|url-status = dead|archive-date = 7 November 2013|title = Rising Star Expedition}}</ref><ref name = "ScientistsBag">{{cite news|url = http://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-26-scientists-bag-more-than-1000-fossils-at-cradle-treasure-trove|title = Scientists bag more than 1000 fossils at Cradle 'treasure trove'}}</ref><ref name = "Johannesburg Update">{{cite news|url = http://johnhawks.net/weblog/hawks/travel/johannesburg-update-feb-2014.html| title = Johannesburg Update}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Australopithecus africanus - Cast of taung child Face.jpg|''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'' (reconstruction)
File:Australopithecus sediba.JPG|''Australopithecus sediba''
</gallery>

== Geological context ==
The hominin remains that fossilised over time at the Cradle of Humankind are found in [[dolomitic]] caves, and are often encased in a mixture of limestone and other sediments called [[breccia]]. Early hominids may have lived throughout Africa, but their remains are found only at sites where conditions allowed for the formation and preservation of fossils.<ref>{{cite book | chapter = If we are all African, then I am nothing: Hominin evolution and the politics of identity in South Africa | first = Amanda | last = Esterhuysen | editor-last=Porr | editor-first=Martin | editor-last2=Matthews | editor-first2=Jacqueline M. | title=Interrogating Human Origins: Decolonisation and the Deep Human Past | publisher=Routledge | publication-place=Abingdon, Oxon | date=2019-12-06 | isbn=978-0-203-73165-9 | doi=10.4324/9780203731659 | oclc=1128062043 | pages = 279–292| s2cid = 242503326 }}</ref>

== Visitor centres ==
On 7 December 2005, South African President [[Thabo Mbeki]] opened the new Maropeng Visitors Centre at the site.<ref name="Maropeng">{{cite news|url = http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1847397,00.html|title = Mbeki opens Maropeng centre|work = [[News24 (website)|News24]]|date = 8 December 2005|quote = Maropeng, which means 'the place where we come from,' is expected to receive over 500 000 visitors annually, according to the [[Gauteng]] provincial government.|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201934/http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1847397,00.html|archive-date = 30 September 2007|df = dmy-all}}</ref> Per the maropeng.co.za website, visitors may see fossils, view stone tools, and learn about the birth of humankind in the visitors centre. The visitors centre also offers a tour of the Sterkfontein Caves and the exhibition at [[Sterkfontein]]. A light, moveable, steel structure known as the Beetle has been placed over the [[Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind|Malapa]] site, to allow the paying public to view [[Archaeological excavation|excavations]], once they resume at the site. (Digging has been on hold since 2009, when the remains of four ''[[Australopithecus sediba |A. sediba]]'' individuals were removed.)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cherry |first=Michael |title=Human evolution: The cradle of humankind revisited |journal=Nature |year=2015 |language=en |volume=523 |issue=7558 |pages=33 |doi=10.1038/523033a |bibcode=2015Natur.523...33C |s2cid=4446278 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{update inline |date=April 2022}}

<gallery widths="200" heights="135">
File:South Africa-Gauteng-Maropeng01.jpg|[[Tumulus]] building at Maropeng visitors centre
File:Maropeng visitor centre, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.jpg|Front of Maropeng
File:Maropeng Visitor Centre, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.jpg|Maropeng Visitor Centre
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Cradle of civilization]]
* ''[[Dawn of Humanity]]'', a 2015 PBS film
* [[Maropeng Cavemen]], South Africa field hockey club
* [[Muldersdrift]]
* [[Recent African origin of modern humans]]
* [[Wonder Cave (Kromdraai, Gauteng)|Wonder Cave]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* Brett Hilton-Barber and Lee R. Berger (2002). ''The Official Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind: Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai & Environs World Heritage Site''. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Publisher. {{ISBN|9781868727391}}. {{OCLC|50215942}}.

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25148592 "Richest human fossil site found in South Africa"], [[BBC News]], 28 November 2013
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131117025047/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/blog/rising-star-expedition/ Rising Star Expedition]—[[National Geographic]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051231041705/http://www.discover-yourself.co.za/ Sterkfontein and Maropeng visitor attractions website]
* [http://www.maropeng.co.za Maropeng – The Cradle of Humankind] Official Website
* [https://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=915 UNESCO – Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs]
* [http://www.sa-venues.com/maps/gauteng_cradle_of_humankind.htm Cradle of Humankind Map]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090601094420/http://www.palaeotours.com/ Palaeo Tours – Scientist-led tours to the "Cradle"]
* [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)] – [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]], [[National Museum of Natural History]] (August 2016)

{{Cradle of Humankind|state=expanded}}
{{World Heritage Sites in South Africa}}
{{Greater Johannesburg|natural}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cradle of Humankind| ]]
[[Category:Geography of Gauteng]]
[[Category:Paleoanthropological sites]]
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[[Category:Fossil parks]]
[[Category:Paleontology in South Africa]]
[[Category:Pleistocene paleontological sites of Africa]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Africa]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Johannesburg]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in South Africa]]