Makapansgat
| Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa | |
|---|---|
| Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
 Makapansgat
|
|
| Location | South Africa |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, vi |
| Reference | 915 |
| UNESCO region | Africa |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1999 (23rd Session) |
| Extensions | 2015 |
Coordinates: 24°08′27″S 29°12′03″E / 24.14083°S 29.20083°E
Makapansgat (/mɐkɐˈpɐnsxɐt/) (or Makapan Valley world heritage site) is an archaeological location within the Makapansgat and Zwartkrans Valleys, northeast of Mokopane in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is an important palaeontological site, with the local limeworks containing Australopithecus-bearing deposits dating to between 3.0 and 2.6 million years BP. The whole Makapan Valley has been declared a South African Heritage Site. Makapansgat belongs to the Cradle of Humankind.
This is the oldest of the cave sites in the Makapansgat valley, spanning an age of greater than 4.0 million years until perhaps 1.6 million years ago. This site has yielded many thousands of fossil bones, amongst which were found remains of the gracile australopithecine Australopithecus africanus. The A. africanus fossils are suggested to date to between 2.85 and 2.58 million years ago based on palaeomagnetism by Andy Herries (La Trobe University, Australia). The site was recently excavated by a joint project between the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Arizona State University in the US.
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