- Address: Kromdraai Rd, Johannesburg, South Africa;
- Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 9-17;
- Phone: +27 14 577 9000
Not far from Johannesburg is another attraction of the South African Republic - the Caves of Sterkfonteyn. They are six halls that are underground.
It is worth mentioning that today they are recognized as one of the most famous paleontological sites in the world.
What to look at?
About 20-30 million years ago, at the level of 55 meters from the surface, the first Sterkfontei caves began to form. During this entire period, stalactites, arches, columns and stalagmites have formed in their halls in an extraordinary way. All this resembles a mystical underground kingdom. By the way, it was formed as a result of the fact that the dolomite, which formed the rock, collapsed under the influence of groundwater, which included calcium carbonate.
Exploring all grottos, in one of them you can see the lake, which residents of Johannesburg used for medicinal purposes. As for its dimensions, the length is 150 m, and the width is 30 m.
In the caves were found more than 500 skeletons of ancient people, skeletons of several thousand animals, 9 thousand ancient tools of labor and 300 fossils of wood. Now they are in the museum of Paleontology and the museum of Dr. Broome, which is in Johannesburg .
But the most surprising and the fact that attracted the attention of tourists from all over the world to the sights, was the unique discovery of anthropologists from South Africa . So, recently a phalanx of the finger, a root tooth and two bones were found. Archaeologists have suggested that this find belongs to a man who lived 2 million years ago.
And experts from the University of Witwatersrand commented this as follows: "This find gives rise to many questions that are difficult to answer. Bones are unique, first of all, by a set of unexplored characteristics. According to the found tooth, it belonged to an early representative of the genus Homo, most likely it is a kind of "habilis" or Homo naledi (its first remains were found in 2013 in South Africa in the cave "Rising Star", the area "Cradle of Mankind").
It is worth mentioning that the first remains of an ancient man were found in 1936 by the famous Dr. Robert Broome.
How to get there?
The caves of Sterkfontein are located 50 km north-west of Johannesburg , in the Gauteng province. You can get here by public transport (№31, 8, 9). Travel time is about 1 hour. The fare is 5 $.
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