- Where to find: South Africa, Gauteng Province;
- Phone: +27 14 577 9000;
- Website: gauteng.net
It is quite natural from the point of view of the development of history that the World Heritage site - the Cradle of Mankind, included in the UNESCO list in 1999, is located in the South African Republic , a place where an invisible link to the past still exists. To look at such an outlandish phenomenon you can drive off from Johannesburg for about 50 kilometers.
What is the monument to the Cradle of Mankind?
Monument The cradle of humanity is not just a stand-alone monument, as a tourist who first heard this name might think. It is a complex consisting of limestone caves occupying an area of 474 square kilometers in size. In total there are 30 caves and each of them is unique in its own way, because it was a place of finds of fossil remains, which are of great historical value.
The cradle of mankind is considered to be the birthplace of the first African tribes, who, according to a popular hypothesis, organized the first human settlements that first appeared on the African continent.
The excavations carried out helped archaeologists find about five hundred remains of an ancient man, a lot of animal remains and even instruments made by African tribes.
11 years ago the Center for the Reception of Visitors was opened in the complex, but even now researchers continue to search in this locality for what can reveal the secrets of a distant history. Tourists who come here with an excursion get a unique opportunity to look at the incredible finds and feel the special atmosphere of the history created by ancient people, see ancient human sites and incredible beauty of stalactites and stalagmites. The reception center also broadcasts the evolutionary stages of the formation of mankind on special displays. Besides, various exhibitions are also organized here, accessible for visiting. Very close to the complex is a good hotel, where you can stay overnight.
By the way, the tourist does not always have time to study all the caves, and therefore, going to the Cradle of mankind and having limitations in time, it is recommended to stop your choice on viewing the most interesting of them:
- Sterkfontein Cave;
- Cave of Miracles;
- Malapa cave;
- Cave Swartkrans;
- cave «Rising Star».
The most interesting caves in the Cradle of Mankind
So, being in the Cradle of humanity, it is worth going to the group of caves Sterkfonteyn , known for the fact that in 1947, Robert Broome and John Robinson here for the first time were discovered the remains of Australopithecus. The age of the caves is about 20-30 million years, they occupy an area of 500 square meters.
The cave "Miracles" is also one of the World Heritage sites and is of great interest to tourists. Its value is the third in the whole country, and the age is about one and a half million years. Tourists in the cave are traditionally impressed by stalactite and stalagmite formations, of which there are altogether 14 pieces, reaching a height of 15 meters. Interesting is the fact that, according to researchers, 85% of caves even today continue to increase in growth.
Another interesting cave is called the Malapa Cave. 8 years ago in the cave archaeologists found the remains of skeletons, whose age is 1.9 million years, also there were found the remains of baboons, so tourists here will definitely have something to look at.
Fragments of ancient people are represented in the cave "Swartkrans" and the cave "Rising Star". By the way, in the last of them excavations were conducted not so long ago and covered the period from 2013 to 2014, so tourists are waiting for absolutely "fresh" finds of antiquity.
Thus, if there is a choice between whether to visit the monument to the Cradle of Mankind, or not to visit, then there is no reason to doubt the positive answer. Africa is considered the birthplace of mankind and a new life and only here in a unique historical heritage that has survived to this day, you can fully verify this.
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