Also of pre-historic interest; twelve kilometres from the centre of Krugerdorp lies a gargantuan 47000 hectare valley known as the Cradle of Humankind. Human activity has been known to exist in its caves for more than 3 million years, with an astounding 40% of the world’s human ancestor fossils found within these parts.
Tours are led by the Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust of the University of Witwatersrand, who lead tourists to some of the most fascinating paleontology sites, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where more than 500 hominid fossils and 9000 stone tools have been discovered through the ages.
Two of the world’s most important paleontological discoveries in modern times have also been made here - Little Foot - an almost complete ape/man skeleton 3.3 million years old was discovered here in 1995 and the Australopithecus Africanus Mrs Ples (now believed to be a Mister Ples), dating back 2.5-million years, was also found in the caves in 1947. In 1999 the area was declared a World Heritage Site. Although privately owned land, any discoveries made still belong to the finder, although many of the areas of known paleontological significance are largely controlled and protected by authorities
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