- Coopers Cave
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Coopers Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind Location in Gauteng Location Gauteng, South Africa Nearest city Krugersdorp, South Africa Coordinates 26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°ECoordinates: 26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°E Area less than 400 m Established Incorporated into the Cradle of Humankind 1999 Governing body Cradle of Humankind and Private Landowner Cooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 40 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Contents
Tools
Cooper's D has provided a rich tool assemblage that has been provisionally assigned to the Developed Olduwan. Cooper's is arguably the second richest early stone tool site in the Cradle of Humankind area[1].
Geology
Cooper's is a series of breccia-filled dolomitic caves that formed in fissures along geological faults[2].
Age of the deposits
Cooper's D has been dated by uranium-lead methods(Robyn Pickering, U. Melbourne) to between 1.5 and 1.4 million years ago [2]. Cooper's A, based on the animals recovered, is thought to be about the same age[3].
See also
Gallery
View of Cooper's D from West. Cooper's A is in the far background left of the pine treeAn extinct giant giraffe molar (left) from Coopers Cave compared in size to a large adult male giraffe tooth still in the mandible (right)Coopers A viewed from the WestCoopers D from the EastQuartz stone tools still encased in breccia at the Cooper's siteStone tools of the Developed Olduwan from Cooper's D. Pictured are a hammerstone, an unknown object made of shale, and quartz flake toolsMegantereon jaw (A type of sabre-toothed cat) from Cooper'sReferences
External links
Categories:- Archaeological sites in South Africa
- Pliocene
- Caves of South Africa
- Limestone caves
- Geography of South Africa
- Gauteng
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