Swartkrans

Swartkrans is a South African National Heritage Site, around 20 miles (32 km) from Johannesburg.

Swartkrans is a farm near to Sterkfontein, notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominin remains. It was purchased by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1968. The oldest deposits present at the site are believed to be between 1.8 and 2 million years old.

Some of the earliest evidence of controlled use of fire by humans can be found at Swartkrans, up to 1.5 million years ago.

Fossils discovered in the limestone of Swartkrans include Telanthropus capensis (a variety of Homo erectus), Paranthropus and Homo habilis

Noted paleontologist Robert Broom was a frequent digger. He was followed by C. K. 'Bob' Brain , whose excavations at the site inspired his book The Hunters or the Hunted? in which he demonstrated that instead of being bloodthirsty killer apes, the hominin fossils found at the site were themselves victims of predation by big cats.

Swartkrans is part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.

References

• The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. C.K. Brain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Paperback: ISBN 0-226-07090-5, ISBN 978-0-226-07090-2.

See also

• Cradle of Humankind
• Paleoanthropology

External links

• University of Chicago Press page for The Hunters or the Hunted?