"There is no other place in the entire world that will make you feel as though you are at the heart of things. Because whichever nightclub you go to, or play, or film, or whichever concert you see, or restaurant you eat at, life will always have been going on elsewhere in your absence, as it always does; but when I am at a Football match, I feel that the rest of the world has stopped and is gathered outside the gates, waiting to hear the final score". (N.Hornby, 1992)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Indiana Tunna

Walking through the caves at Sterkfontein I had the score to Indiana Jones in my head. Its interior reminded me of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The world heritage listed cradle of human kind offers a rich and fascinating history told to us through ancient fossils which have been found on its 47,000 sq hectares. We were given a short tour of the museum which houses many remains of early humans, stretching back thousands of years. It is said that all of humanity shares an African heritage. We are one, diverse species across the globe, with our roots in Africa. The second part of the tour was through the Sterkfontein Caves. It was the adult ape-men fossils from Sterkfontein that helped prove to the world that Africa was the cradle of humankind. Sterkfontein has fossil deposits dating back to almost 3.5 million years ago all the way up to 1.5 million years ago, providing a wealth of information about the different hominid species that existed in this 2 million year interval. The most famous of all these findings is one which is still incomplete. “Little Foot”, a nickname for the almost complete ape man skeleton which dates back 4.17 million years.

1 comment:

  1. Reading your post immediately brought to mind the song from the Raiders of the Lost Arc! So you didn't manage to find any gold or diamonds huh??

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