- Swartkrans
Swartkrans is a location in
South Africa , around 20 miles fromJohannesburg .Swartkrans is a farm near to
Sterkfontein , notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominid remains. It was purchased by theUniversity of the Witwatersrand in1968 . The oldest deposits present at the site are believed to be between 1.8 and 2 million years old.Fossils discovered in the
limestone of Swartkrans include "Telanthropus capensis " (a variety of "Homo erectus "), "Paranthropus " and "Homo habilis "Noted paleontologist
Robert Broom was a frequent digger. He was followed byCharles Kimberlin Brain (C.K. 'Bob' Brain), whose excavations at the site inspired his book "The Hunters or the Hunted?" in which he demonstrated that instead of being bloodthirsty killer apes, thehominin fossils found at the site were themselves victims of predation by big cats.Swartkrans is part of the
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site . Use offire at Swartkrans has been dated to up to 1 million years BP, and is believed to be the second oldest evidence of fire use known in the world.References
* "The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy." C.K. Brain.
Chicago :University of Chicago Press , 1981. Paperback: ISBN 0-226-07090-5, ISBN 978-0-226-07090-2.ee also
*
Paleoanthropology External links
* [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/257.ctl University of Chicago Press page] for "The Hunters or the Hunted?"
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