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Sterkfontein
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== History of investigations == Modern excavation of the caves began in the late 1890s by limestone miners who noticed the [[fossil]]s and brought them to the attention of scientists. In 1936, students of Professor [[Raymond Dart]] and Dr. [[Robert Broom]] from the [[University of the Witwatersrand]] began concerted excavations. The caves yielded the first adult [[Australopithecine]], substantially strengthening Dart's claim that the skull known as the [[Taung Child]] (an ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'') was a human ancestor. There was a pause in excavation during World War II, but after the war Dr. Robert Broom continued excavations. In 1947, he found a nearly complete skull of an adult female ([[STS 5]]) ''A. africanus'' (or possibly that of an adolescent male). Broom initially named the skull ''[[Plesianthropus transvaalensis]]'' (''near-man'' from [[Transvaal Province|Transvaal]]), but it became better known by its nickname, ''[[Mrs. Ples]]''. Mrs. Ples is now defined as a member of ''A. africanus''. In 1984, Peter Verhulsel who was a member of cave diving expedition researching one of the caves was lost and ultimately starved to death after three weeks in the cave as rescue groups could not find him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scuba diver lost in cave dies waiting for rescue - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/11/12/Scuba-diver-lost-in-cave-dies-waiting-for-rescue/7366469083600/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> In 1997, a nearly complete skeleton of a second species of ''Australopithecus'' (StW 573) was found in the caves by [[Ronald J. Clarke]]; extraction of the remains from the surrounding [[breccia]] is ongoing. The skeleton was named ''[[Little Foot]]'', since the first parts found (in 1995, in storage) were the bones of a foot. Excavations continue to this day, and finds now total some 500 hominids, making Sterkfontein one of the richest sites in the world for early hominids. The Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust (PAST), a non-profit trust fund established in 1993, sponsors over 90% of the research undertaken at Sterkfontein and was instrumental in its nomination as a World Heritage Site.
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