Editing Cradle of Humankind (section)

{{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>