Makapansgat Research Project

Located about 20 km northeast of Mokopane (Limpopo), Makapansgat is an area of significant palaeontological richness, including Plio-Pleistocene localities between 3 and 2.5Ma. Makapansgat Limeworks is one of these Plio-Pleistocene locality, particularly well-known for the identification of Australopithecus prometheus by R. Dart in 1948. Recent discoveries of A. prometheus in the Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng) and new datings (e.g. Sterkfontein) put the existence of the species in perspective. This is all the more important if one considers the age of the fossils: 3.67Ma for Sterkfontein and 3-2.5 Ma for Makapansgat Limeworks. The latter thus appears as an essential milestone for the knowledge of the human lineage, completing the chronological framework drawn up in the Cradle . It is for this reason that we are proposing a project to return to the Makapansgat to restart new field researches and redating the site.
Makapansgat Limeworks, Makapan Valley, Limpopo