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<< Other Photo Pages >> Malapa - Cave or Rock Shelter in South Africa

Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 15 January 2013  Page Views: 6036

Natural PlacesSite Name: Malapa Alternative Name: Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Country: South Africa
NOTE: This site is 72.064 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Johannesburg  Nearest Village: Muldersdrift
Latitude: 25.88S  Longitude: 27.840000E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
2
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Malapa
Malapa submitted by bat400 : The Malapa site, August 2011 site of discovery of australopithecus sediba. Photo by Lee R. Berger (as Profberger,) 15 July 2011. Lee R. Berger , the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Fossil-bearing Cave in Gauteng.
Located within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and the Malapa Nature Reserve.

According to palaeomagnetism and uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating, the remains were 2.0 Ma. At that time the site would have been an underground pool or spring, perhaps 15 m deep. Both animal and early humans were attracted to the water and appear to have either fallen in or were unable to get back out after a descent.

This is the type site for an early human ancestor called Australopithecus sediba (after the well or spring at the bottom of the cave). The species had long arms, short powerful hands, a very advanced pelvis and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human. The skeletons were found among the articulated skeletons of a animals: wild cats, antelopes and small mammels.

Note: Location given is very general for the site.

Source:

Australopithecus sediba: A New Species of Homo-Like Australopith from South Africa
Berger et at. (2010). Australopithecus sediba: A New Species of Homo-Like Australopith from South Africa. Science.

"Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa".
"Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa".

Note: Most complete pre-human skeleton found
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"Malapa" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Malapa by Anonymous on Sunday, 20 January 2013
Anonymous on 19th Jan asks why can this not be "just another ancient ape" as though such a find would have no significance. As Homo and the other great apes derived from (probably) the same starting point, any newly-discovered ancient ape would have immense importance in helping to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle, especially as this one appears to have characteristics more usually associated with Homo.
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Re: Malapa by Anonymous on Saturday, 19 January 2013
"Homo or simply a close relative" How about just another ape species ? That had absolutely nothing to do with later Homo groups, everytime a new ape skeletal remains are found, for some unknown reason "IT MUST BE LINKED TO THE EMERGENCE OF HOMO SAPIENS" and why not just another ancient ape ?????
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Re: Malapa by bat400 on Tuesday, 15 January 2013
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South African scientists have uncovered the most complete skeleton yet of an ancient relative of man, hidden in a rock excavated from an archaeological site three years ago.

The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, constitute the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," according to Lee Berger (University of Witwatersrand).

"We have discovered parts of a jaw and critical aspects of the body including what appear to be a complete femur (thigh bone), ribs, vertebrae and other important limb elements, some never before seen in such completeness in the human fossil record," said Berger, a lead professor in the finding.

The latest discovery of what is thought to be around two-million years old, was made in a one-metre (three-foot) wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until a technician noticed a tooth sticking out of the black stone last month.

The technician, Justin Mukanka, said: "I was lifting the block up, I just realised that there is a tooth."

It was then scanned to reveal significant parts of an A. sediba skeleton, dubbed Karabo, whose other parts were first discovered in 2009. Parts of three other skeletons were discovered in 2008 in the world-famous Cradle of Humankind site north of Johannesburg.

Direct ancestor, or close relative? It is not certain whether the species, which had long arms, a small brain and a thumb possibly used for precision gripping, was a direct ancestor of humans' genus, Homo, or simply a close relative.

"It appears that we now have some of the most critical and complete remains of the skeleton," said Berger.

Other team members were equally enthusiastic...

Thanks to Jackdaw1 for the link: http://www.cosmosmagazine.comhttp://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5791/most-complete-pre-human-skeleton-found
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