Editing Sterkfontein

{{Short description|Archaeological site in Gauteng, South Africa}}
{{Use South African English|date=July 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Sterkfontein, Cradle of Humankind
| map = South Africa Gauteng
| relief = 1
| map_caption = Location in Gauteng
| location = [[Gauteng]], [[South Africa]]
| nearest_city =
| coordinates = {{coord|26.0157|S|27.7346|E|format=dms|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:ZA}}
| area =
| established = Declared a World Heritage Site in 2000
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = Cradle of Humankind
}}
[[Image:SterkfonteinCave.jpg|thumb|Archaeologists in a structure above the entrance to Sterkfontein]]
'''Sterkfontein''' ([[Afrikaans]] for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of [[limestone]] caves of special interest in [[paleoanthropology]] located in [[Gauteng]] province, about {{convert|40|km}} northwest of [[Johannesburg]], [[South Africa]] in the [[Muldersdrift]] area close to the town of [[Krugersdorp]]. The archaeological sites of [[Swartkrans]] and [[Kromdraai]] are in the same area. Sterkfontein is a [[National heritage sites (South Africa)|South African National Heritage Site]] and was also declared a [[World Heritage Site]] in 2000. The area in which it is situated is known as the [[Cradle of Humankind]].<ref name="SAHRA" /><ref name="UNESCO" /> The Sterkfontein Caves are also home to numerous wild African species including ''[[Belonogaster petiolata]]'', a wasp species of which there is a large nesting presence.{{sfn|Keeping |1997}}

Numerous early [[Hominidae|hominin]] remains have been found at the site over the last few decades. These have been attributed to ''[[Australopithecus]]'', early ''[[Homo]]'' and ''[[Paranthropus]]''.

In 2024 the cave was closed to visitors by its owner due to flooding.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.maropeng.co.za/content/page/sterkfontein-caves |title=Cradle of Humankind Official Website}}</ref>{{dead link|date=February 2025}} The caves reopened to the public on 15 April 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2025-04 - World renowned Wits Sterkfontein Caves reopen - Wits University |url=https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2025/2025-04/world-renowned-wits-sterkfontein-caves-reopen.html |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=www.wits.ac.za}}</ref>

== 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.

==Dating of the deposits==
The Member 4 deposits containing the ''Australopithecus africanus'' fossils have been dated to between 2.6 and 2.0 Ma, with the Sts5 "Mrs. Ples" fossil estimated to date to between 2.05 and 2.01 Ma based on a combination of [[Uranium–lead dating]] and [[palaeomagnetic]] analysis and [[electron spin resonance]] dating{{sfn|Herries|Shaw|2011}}{{sfn|Pickering|Kramers|2010}}{{sfn|Herries et al.|2010}}{{sfn|Herries et al.|2013}} The StW 573 partial skeleton (''[[Little Foot]]'') was recovered from a separate infill at the site within the confines of the Silberberg Grotto. It is estimated to be around 2.6–2.2 Ma based on a combination of [[Uranium-Lead Dating|uranium-lead dating]] and palaeomagnetic analysis{{sfn|Herries|Shaw|2011}} and belongs to a second species of australopith, [[Australopithecus prometheus]]. In contrast, [[surface exposure dating]] of sediments indicate that skeleton StW 573 has an age of approximately 4 million years.{{sfn|Partridge et al.|2003}} While the [[flowstone]] dated in the uranium-lead dating has been shown to have formed later than the fossil, an age estimate of ~3 Ma suggested by the same authors{{sfn|Bruxelles et al.|2014}} has little firm basis.{{sfn|Balter|2014}} The palaeomagnetic analysis {{sfn|Herries|Shaw|2011}} remains the most credible age estimate based on the current data as it included work on both sediments and speleothem.

A slightly younger deposit (StW 53 infill) dated to between {{Mya|1.8|1.5|Mya}} has revealed the remains of a specimen of early ''Homo'' (StW 53). StW 53 has been described as similar to ''[[Homo habilis]]'' or as a novel new species ''[[Homo gautengensis]]''.{{sfn|Curnoe|2010}} No stone tools were associated with the fossil, but StW 53 has evidence for stone tool cut-marks.{{sfn|Pickering|Clarke|Heaton|2004}} Member 5 contains [[Oldowan]] and [[Acheulian]] stone tools as well as specimens of early ''Homo'' and ''Paranthropus'' and is dated to between 1.6 and 1.1 Mya.{{sfn|Herries|Shaw|2011}}

In 2022 cosmogenic nuclide dating found that the bulk of Member 4 is 3.4 million years old."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Granger |first1=Darryl E. |last2=Stratford |first2=Dominic |last3=Bruxelles |first3=Laurent |last4=Gibbon |first4=Ryan J. |last5=Clarke |first5=Ronald J. |last6=Kuman |first6=Kathleen |date=2022-07-05 |title=Cosmogenic nuclide dating of Australopithecus at Sterkfontein, South Africa |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=119 |issue=27 |pages=e2123516119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2123516119 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=9271183 |pmid=35759668|bibcode=2022PNAS..11923516G }}</ref> The team responsible for this work, which includes Clarke, says: "These results place nearly the entire ''Australopithecus'' assemblage at Sterkfontein in the mid-Pliocene, contemporaneous with ''Australopithecus afarensis'' in East Africa."<ref name=":0" /> They say this discredits the assumption that ''A. africanus'' descended from ''A. afarensis.''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sterkfontein Caves 19.jpg|Entrance to the Silberberg Grotto containing ''[[Little Foot]]''
File:SterkfonteinCaves2.jpg|The underground lake in the Sterkfontein Caves. One diver has died in the lake
File:SterkfonteinCaves3.jpg|A view down toward the lake in the caves
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|South Africa}}
*[[Cradle of Humankind]]
*[[List of caves in South Africa]]
*[[Muldersdrift]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="SAHRA">{{cite web|title= Sterkfontein Caves, Zwartkrans, Krugersdorp District 9/2/233/0004|url=http://www.sahra.org.za/node/19143|publisher=[[South African Heritage Resources Agency]]|access-date=16 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111134658/http://www.sahra.org.za/node/19143|archive-date=2014-11-11}}</ref>
<ref name="UNESCO">{{Cite web | title = Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa | work = UNESCO World Heritage Centre  | date = n.d. | access-date = 2018-08-23 | url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/915 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502084307/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/915|archive-date =2019-05-02 }}</ref>
}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
*{{Cite web | title = 'Little Foot' Fossil Could Be Human Ancestor | last = Balter | first = Michael | work = Science  | date = 14 March 2014 | access-date = 2018-08-23 | url = https://www.science.org/content/article/little-foot-fossil-could-be-human-ancestor }}
*{{cite journal|last1=Bruxelles|first1=Laurent| last2=Clarke| first2=Ronald J.| last3=Maire |first3=Richard |last4=Ortega|first4=Richard|last5=Stratford|first5=Dominic|title=Stratigraphic analysis of the Sterkfontein StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton and implications for its age|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=70|year=2014|pages=36–48|issn=0047-2484|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.014|pmid=24698198|bibcode=2014JHumE..70...36B | ref={{sfnref|Bruxelles et al.|2014}} }}
*{{cite journal | last = Curnoe | first = D.
 | title = A review of early ''Homo'' in southern Africa focusing on cranial, mandibular and dental remains, with the description of a new species (''Homo gautengensis'' sp. nov.)
 | journal = HOMO: Journal of Comparative Human Biology | year = 2010 | volume = 61 | pages = 151–177
 | pmid = 20466364 | doi=10.1016/j.jchb.2010.04.002 | issue=3
}}
* {{cite journal | ref = {{sfnref|Herries et al.|2010}}
 | last1 = Herries | first1 = A.I.R.
 | last2 = Hopley | first2 = P.J.
 | last3 = Adams | first3 = J.W.
 | last4 = Curnoe | first4 = D.
 |author5=Maslin, M.A.
 | title = Letter to the editor: Geochronology and palaeoenvironments of Southern African hominin-bearing localities—A reply to Wrangham et al., 2009. 'Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins'
 | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 143 | issue = 4 | pages = 640–646 |date=December 2010
 | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.21389 | pmid=20872806
}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Herries|first1=Andy I.R.|last2=Shaw|first2=John|title=Palaeomagnetic analysis of the Sterkfontein palaeocave deposits: Implications for the age of the hominin fossils and stone tool industries|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=60|issue=5|year=2011|pages=523–539|issn=0047-2484|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.09.001|pmid=21392817|bibcode=2011JHumE..60..523H }}
*{{cite book|last1=Herries|first1=Andy I. R.|title=The Paleobiology of Australopithecus|last2=Pickering|first2=Robyn|last3=Adams|first3=Justin W.|last4=Curnoe|first4=Darren|last5=Warr|first5=Ginette|last6=Latham|first6=Alf G.|last7=Shaw|first7=John|chapter=A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective on the Age of Australopithecus in Southern Africa|year=2013|pages=21–40|issn=1877-9077|doi=10.1007/978-94-007-5919-0_3|ref={{sfnref|Herries et al.|2013}} |series=Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology|isbn=978-94-007-5918-3}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Keeping | first1 = Malcolm G | year = 1997 | title = Social Behavior and Brood Decline in Reproductive-phase Colonies Of ''Belonogaster Petiolata'' (Degeer) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) | journal = Journal of Insect Behavior | volume = 10 | issue = 2| pages = 265–78 | doi=10.1007/bf02765559| bibcode = 1997JIBeh..10..265K | s2cid = 41829420 }}
*{{cite journal|last1=Partridge|first1=T. C.|first2=D. E. |last2=Granger|first3=M. W. |last3=Caffee|first4=R. J. |last4=Clarke|title=Lower Pliocene Hominid Remains from Sterkfontein|journal=Science|volume=300|issue=5619|year=2003|pages=607–612|issn =0036-8075|doi =10.1126/science.1081651|pmid=12714736|bibcode=2003Sci...300..607P|s2cid=2461219|ref ={{sfnref|Partridge et al.|2003}} }}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Pickering | first1 = T.R.
 | last2 = Clarke | first2 = R.J.
 | last3 = Heaton | first3 = J.L.
 | title = The Context of Stw 573, an early hominid skull and skeleton from Sterkfontein M2: taphonomy and palaeoenvironment
 | journal = J. Hum. Evol. | year = 2004 | volume = 46 | pages = 277–295
 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.12.001 | pmid = 14984784 | issue=3
}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Pickering | first1 = R.
 | last2 = Kramers | first2 = J.D.
 | title = Re-appraisal of the stratigraphy and determination of new U-Pb dates for the Sterkfontein hominin site, South Africa
 | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | year = 2010 | volume =59 | pages = 70–86
 | pmid = 20605190 | doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.03.014 | issue=1
| bibcode = 2010JHumE..59...70P
 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sterkfontein Caves}}
* [http://www.maropeng.co.za/index.php/sterkfontein/  Maropeng Visitors Centre ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502050731/http://maropeng.co.za/index.php/sterkfontein |date=2 May 2013 }}
*[http://www.past.org.za/ Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust]
*{{SAHRA site|id=922330004}}

{{Cradle of Humankind}}
{{Navbox prehistoric caves}}
{{Greater Johannesburg|natural}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in South Africa]]
[[Category:Caves of South Africa]]
[[Category:Landforms of Gauteng]]
[[Category:Limestone caves]]
[[Category:Mogale City Local Municipality]]
[[Category:Paleoanthropological sites]]
[[Category:Pleistocene paleontological sites of Africa]]
[[Category:South African heritage sites]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Gauteng]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites of Southern Africa]]
[[Category:Cradle of Humankind]]