These are images from the museum at Maropeng a Afrika -- the Sterkfontein Caves which are famous for the number of highly significant hominid fossil discoveries.As you can see, the glass case with fossil skulls is directly across from a wall with startingtly large computer aided graphics depicting what these homind skeletons might look like if we could look back millions of years ago.
I enjoy seeing these kind of pictures, because the fleshless skulls tend to look like "museum objects," whereas flesh, fur, eyes and movement connect us clearly to our ancestors.
This room was used as a "holding room"
for the tour group. We were then led out of the museum and into one of the caves in the area -- down where "Mrs. Pleis" and "Little Bigfoot" were found.
3 comments:
Wow! The museum looks awsome! How many of the Sterkfontein Caves did you get to see? What exactly are the caves? Coincidence of geography where bones collected over time? Dwellings that were covered from change? Great pics!
Mmmm, excellent questions Christo -- looks like we have to turn to our brother on this one. James, any ideas here? I saw only one cave -- you can buy a map and drive around to several, or hire a professional (anthropologist) to give you a tour. I think you both should come and we can go together!
That is a really good question Chris. Early interpretations did suggest that the early humans were in fact living in the caves.
However, it is now known that most of the caves in South Africa were not inhabited by earlier humans (e.g., australopithecines, Homo erectus), the bones accumulated there later or by chance.
In many cases, these caves were eroded out of soft limestone by underground water. Over time the caves got larger and would develop openings to the ground surface. Because there was water present below ground, many trees grew above these openings. Leopards and other carnivores often bring the remains of a kill (such as a early human) up into the trees, and their bones would fall to the ground, near openings into the caves below. Then heavy rains would come and wash the bones of many different types of animals, including early humans, and soil into the cave system. Over time this mixture of animal bones, stones, and soil would solidify into a cement-like material. That is why in the old days (1930s-1940s) many of the human fossils were found when miners used dynamite to get at the Breccia (the cement-like material). This Breccia was used for construction. It also explains why it may take years for anthropologists to excavate human remains from the caves, the Breccia requires electric drills and things of that nature.
Many of the animals bones, including the early human remains, have puncture marks from carnivore teeth and other evidence that they were the remains of an animals dinner.
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