Today we spent the most fascinating day with a paleoanthropologist at a UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Cradle of Humankind. The site is about an hour's drive from Johannesburg and we arrived at around 9:30 a.m. to start our day with our guide Matt.
Matt is a post-doc at the University of Wittwatersrand or The Witt as it is known in these parts. We sat in a circle under a tree where Matt had a collection of skulls that he used to explain and demonstrate. For almost an hour he talked about the fascinating history of archeological digs in the area, explaining both the historical context in terms of the scientific community at the time as well as the practice and science of archaeology.
Both sites we visited are active digs. The first was Drimolen and as we walked and stood at the site we learned about the geology of the region which resulted in the formation and preservation of the fossils that are present. We also learned the science behind the dating of the sites and the fossils which uses a combination of finding radioactive minerals, paleomagneticism and animal fossil records. We got a sense of how painstaking and sometimes tedious the process of digging is to ensure that the information recovered is as well-preserved as possible.
From Drimolen we made our way to the Sterkfontein Caves stopping for lunch along the way. Sterkfontein is the reason the region received the UNESCO designation after an almost complete skeleton of a 3 million year old hominid - Australopithecus Africanus - known as Little Foot was discovered. The site is also famous for the discovery of a 2.5 million year old hominid known as Mrs. Ples and we were able to see the site where it was discovered.
Finally we donned lovely hair nets and orange hard hats and descended into one of the caves so we could walks around and see the geological formations that Matt described earlier and get a better sense of how the remains of hominids got calcified and preserved in the rock. Again there were a number of active digs that we passed on our way.
Did I mention that Drimolen is on a private game reserve? So as we were riding in the bus we saw bonus animals along the way - klipspringer, eland, zebra, warthogs, ostriches and rhinoceros. Our guide Joe joked with us saying we could skip the trip to Kruger now : ) The students were squealing with delight at the amimal sightings so if anything, this has only given them a taste of what is to come.
Our day ended with a quick stop at the Mall of Africa where everyone stocked up on water and snacks and grabbed a bite to eat. The Mall was quite an eye-opener. A three story modern, sprawling centre catering to mainly upper-income South Africans with mostly western designer or brand name stores, franchises and restaurants. Quite a contrast with our visit to the township yesterday.
Tomorrow we leave bright and early for our overland trip to Kruger National Park. More adventures to come!
