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From left to right Dr Bob Brain, his wife Laura and Mr Dumisani Sibayi from SAHRA

On 12 April 2013, Swartkrans, a fossil-rich site that lies in the Blaaubank River Valley of South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, joined the ranks as one of the country’s National Heritage Sites.

Representatives from the South African Heritage Resources Agency and the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site Management Authority, along with leading palaeoanthropologist Dr Bob Brain, whose work at Swartkrans spanned over half a century, unveiled a plaque at Swartkrans that commemorates the location’s National Heritage Site status.

The plaque recognises the importance of the caves as one of the world’s most prominent palaeoanthropological sites.

“The site of Swartkrans is critically important in the overall understanding of our past. From the first evidence of controlled use of fire and the first evidence of the co-existence of two hominid species, Swartkrans has revealed a rich picture of our prehistoric past,” says Lindsay Marshall, Maropeng’s marketing and communications manager.

Swartkrans is the richest fossil sites for bone tools

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Swartkrans is unveiled as a National Heritage Site

Since 1948, when palaeontologist Dr Robert Broom and his assistant, John Robinson, first discovered Homo ergaster, the fossils discovered at Swartkrans have made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of human evolution.

Certain fossils excavated at the cave date to between 1.8-million and 1-million years old, including the largest sample of Paranthropus robustus ever discovered in Southern Africa, and remains of the early tool-maker of our own genus, Homo.

More than 200 hominin species have been discovered at Swartkrans.

Other discoveries include stone and bone tools used by early Homo, as well as evidence of the controlled use of fire.

These findings from the Swartkrans cave deposits have helped unlock our understanding of our early human ancestors and the environment they lived in.

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Dr Bob Brain (left) pictured with Morris Sutton at Swartkrans