South Africa Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Prehistoric archaeology === [[File:Maropeng_visitor_centre,_Cradle_of_Humankind,_South_Africa.jpg|thumb|Front of Maropeng at the [[Cradle of Humankind]]]] South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and [[List of human evolution fossils|human-fossil]] sites in the world.<ref>{{cite book|last= Wymer|first= John|author2= Singer, R|year= 1982|title= The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa|location= Chicago|publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-76103-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Guide to Klasies River|page= 11|year= 2001|url= http://academic.sun.ac.za/archaeology/KRguide2001.PDF|author= Deacon, HJ|publisher= Stellenbosch University|access-date= 5 September 2009|archive-date= 21 February 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110221195519/http://academic.sun.ac.za/archaeology/KRguide2001.PDF|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/915/|title=Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=26 December 2019|archive-date=4 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204231517/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/915|url-status=live}}</ref> Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in [[Gauteng]] Province. The area, a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]], has been branded "the [[Cradle of Humankind]]". The sites include [[Sterkfontein]], one of the richest sites for [[hominin]] fossils in the world, as well as [[Swartkrans]], [[Gondolin Cave]], [[Kromdraai fossil site|Kromdraai]], [[Cooper's Cave]] and [[Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind|Malapa]]. [[Raymond Dart]] identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the [[Taung Child]] (found near [[Taung]]) in 1924. Other hominin remains have come from the sites of [[Makapansgat]] in [[Limpopo]] Province; [[Cornelia, Free State|Cornelia]] and [[Florisbad]] in [[Free State (province)|Free State Province]]; [[Border Cave]] in [[KwaZulu-Natal]] Province; [[Klasies River Caves]] in [[Eastern Cape]] Province; and [[Pinnacle Point]], [[Saldanha man|Elandsfontein]] and Die Kelders Cave in [[Western Cape]] Province.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marean |first1=Curtis W. |title=Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Western Cape Province, South Africa) in context: The Cape Floral kingdom, shellfish, and modern human origins |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |date=September 2010 |volume=59 |issue=3β4 |pages=425β443 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.011 |pmid=20934095 }}</ref> These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with ''[[Australopithecus africanus]],''<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/6/79.06.02.x.html|title= Hominid Evolution|publisher= Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute|first= Stephen P.|last= Broker|access-date= 19 June 2008|archive-date= 7 April 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080407181350/http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/6/79.06.02.x.html|url-status= live}}</ref> followed by ''[[Australopithecus sediba]]'', ''[[Homo ergaster]]'', ''[[Homo erectus]]'', ''[[Homo rhodesiensis]]'', ''[[Homo helmei]]'', ''[[Homo naledi]]'' and modern [[human]]s (''Homo sapiens''). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years. Various researchers have located [[Oldowan|pebble tools]] within the [[Vaal River]] valley.<ref name=Langer>{{cite book| title = An Encyclopedia of World History| editor-last = Langer| editor-first = William L.| edition = 5th| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company| location = Boston| year = 1972| isbn = 978-0-395-13592-1| page = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaworl00will/page/9 9]| url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaworl00will/page/9 }}</ref><ref> {{cite book | last1 = Leakey | first1 = Louis Seymour Bazett | author-link1 = Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey | chapter = Stone Age cultures of South Africa | title = Stone age Africa: an outline of prehistory in Africa | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FsEiAAAAMAAJ | edition = reprint | publisher = Negro Universities Press | publication-date = 1936 | page = 79 | access-date = 21 February 2018 | quote = In 1929, during a brief visit to the Transvaal, I myself found a number of pebble tools in some of the terrace gravels of the Vaal River, and similar finds have been recorded by Wayland, who visited South Africa, and by van Riet Lowe and other South African prehistorians. | year = 1936 | isbn = 9780837120225 }} </ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page