On Sunday 28 April, we went out to the Cradle of Humankind – a UNESCO World Heritage site that is called like that because of the abundance of Australopeticus africanus skeletons that were found there, including 2.3mn year old “Mrs. Ples” who was discovered in 1947. It is quite close to Joburg so we could easily take one of our cars out there. The Cradle has two major sights: The caves of Sterkfontein and the visitor’s center at Maropeng. We decided to only do the cave since there is also a small museum attached to it. The caves are not only deep and widespread, but they are also the major reason for the prevalence of fossils and skeletons: Early humans and other animals would fall into the cave and not be able to get out, and then be preserved by the limestone. They are still – very slowly and thoroughly – excavating some fossils in the cave, a process that can take decades for a single skeleton. That would not be my kind of job!
The caves themselves are very interesting as well, going up to 60 meters below ground with passageways that are sometimes so narrow that you have to crouch. There is also an underground lake in the caves, the bottom of which has not yet been found – one diver trying to find it got as deep as 70 meters, but then died on the way back when his headlamp battery went out of juice. Apparently they are planning to bring dive robots in soon to finally get to the bottom of the lake.
Some pictures follow – but they are very dark, given that they were taken in a cave…
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- Sterkfontein Cave
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- Underground Lake
