Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site

• The Cradle of Humankind is one of South Africa’s eight World Heritage Sites and the only one in Gauteng.

• The site was awarded World Heritage status in 1999.

• The Gauteng provincial government formed the Cradle of Humankind Management Authority.

Photo courtesy Bianca Bothma

• The Cradle of Humankind was developed as an economic growth and social upliftment project by the Gauteng provincial government and its strategic economic investment programme Blue IQ.

• The economic growth project was established to relieve the burden of poverty of the historically disadvantaged communities living around Maropeng and Sterkfontein.

• More than R250 million has been invested in roads and infrastructure development to contribute towards infrastructure development.

• The site is 47,000 hectares and includes 15 fossil sites which are located in the north-west and north-east regions of the province.

• The fossil sites are Sterkfontein Caves, Swartkrans, Minaar’s Cave, Cooper’s Site, Kromdraai, Plover’s Lake, Wonder Caves, Drimolen, Gladysvale, Haasgat, Gondolin, Motsetse, Makapans Valley and Taung.

• Even though Makapans Valley and Taung are part of Limpopo province,they are still considered part of the World Heritage Site.

• There are more than 600 tourist attractions in the Cradle of Humankind.

• The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site is a tranquil place, which inspires visitors to reflect on the journey of human evolution.

• Australopithecus africanus(the southern ape of Africa), also known as the Taung child was discovered by Raymond Dart in 1924 at the Buxton Limeworks near Taung. This discovery of a fossilised skull of a child that had human-like teeth but an ape-like face and ape-sized brain provided the evolutionary link between ape and human.

• Another species of Australopithecus africanus named “Mrs Ples” was discovered by Dr Robert Broom and John Robinson at Sterkfontein Caves in 1947. This discovery of a fossilised skull of an adult is 2.3-million years old.

• A new species of Australopithecus, also known as “Little Foot”, was discovered by Professor Ron Clarke at Sterkfontein Caves in 1994, and is yet to be identified. The almost complete skeleton of the hominid is still lying partially in breccia while Clarke is currently exposing it. “Little Foot” is 4.17million years old.

• Specimens of Paranthropus robustus were discovered at Swartkrans in 1948. Paranthropus had massive jaws for crushing and grinding hard foods such as roots, seeds and hard berries. Paranthropus robustus lived almost 2million years ago.

• Scientists believe the oldest evidence of human-controlled use of fire was also discovered at Swartkrans. Burnt bones were found near stone artefacts and research has shown that the bones were heated to above ? ˚ Celsius (390˚ Fahrenheit), which is more than the normal temperature of a natural bush fire.

Download the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site factsheet