Maropeng offers Swartkrans walking tours

This Paranthropus fossil, SK48, was discovered at Swartkrans

Maropeng is happy to announce that we will be hosting our popular Swartkrans Walking Tours again in 2009. Swartkrans, one of the Cradle’s richest fossil sites, is usually closed to the public. But on these tours, small groups will have a rare opportunity to observe an active palaeontological dig and will be guided around the site by scientist Morris Sutton, who is currently excavating there.

Dr Robert Broom identified a new hominid species at Swartkrans, named Telanthropus capensis, now known as Homo ergaster. Swartkrans has yielded the largest sample of Paranthropus robustus, and it is also significant for the discovery of the earliest evidence of the use of controlled fire in Southern Africa, dating back 1-million years.

The tour will be followed by a sumptuous picnic. There will be only two tours this year (in July and August), and groups will be restricted to 12 people (adults only).