Plovers Lake
Encyclopedia
Plovers Lake Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity in South Africa
. The cave is located about 4 km Southeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein
and Kromdraai and about 36 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg
, South Africa
.
and Francis Thackeray of the then Transvaal Museum
(now known as the Northern Flagship Institute) in what is known as the "Outer Deposits", and the second by Lee Berger
of the University of the Witwatersand and Steve Churchill of Duke University
in 2000 - 2004 in the "Inner Deposits".
that had survived a leopard
or saber-toothed cat attack as was evidenced by a healed wound over the eye. They also discovered many other animals and some indeterminate stone tools. No hominid fossils were discovered.
Berger and Churchill worked in the Inner Deposits and quickly discovered that this site was younger than the Outer Deposits and contained the remains of Middle Stone Age
d occupation by humans. They recovered over 25,000 fossil remains, many hundreds of tools including knives and spear points and fragmentary hominid remains dated to around 70,000 years ago.
-filled dolomitic cave that has been de-roofed. The Inner Deposits have most of the roof intact and extend for several hundred meters. Most of the site has not been excavated.
List of fossil sites
Lee Berger
Cradle of Humankind
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The cave is located about 4 km Southeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein
Sterkfontein
-References:-References:-References:: : : :...
and Kromdraai and about 36 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
History of Investigations
Plovers Lake had two periods of excavation. One in the late 1980s and early 1990s by C.K. "Bob" BrainCharles Kimberlin Brain
Charles Kimberlin Brain , born in Southern Rhodesia in 1931, is an eminent South African paleontologist who has studied and taught African cave taphonomy for more than fifty years.-Biography:From 1965 to 1991, Dr...
and Francis Thackeray of the then Transvaal Museum
Transvaal Museum
""The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa....
(now known as the Northern Flagship Institute) in what is known as the "Outer Deposits", and the second by Lee Berger
Lee R. Berger
Lee Rogers Berger is a paleoanthropologist, physical anthropologist and archeologist and is best known for his discovery of Australopithecus sediba and his work on Australopithecus africanus body proportions and the Taung Bird of Prey Hypothesis.-Background:Berger was born in Shawnee Mission,...
of the University of the Witwatersand and Steve Churchill of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
in 2000 - 2004 in the "Inner Deposits".
Recovered Fossils
Many thousands of fossils were found by both teams. In the Outer Deposits, Brain and Thakeray discovered a very fine fossil baboonBaboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
that had survived a leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
or saber-toothed cat attack as was evidenced by a healed wound over the eye. They also discovered many other animals and some indeterminate stone tools. No hominid fossils were discovered.
Berger and Churchill worked in the Inner Deposits and quickly discovered that this site was younger than the Outer Deposits and contained the remains of Middle Stone Age
Middle Stone Age
The Middle Stone Age was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50-25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550-500,000...
d occupation by humans. They recovered over 25,000 fossil remains, many hundreds of tools including knives and spear points and fragmentary hominid remains dated to around 70,000 years ago.
Geology
Plovers Lake is a large series of deposits formed along huge fissures in a checkerboard pattern. The Outer Deposit is a brecciaBreccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
-filled dolomitic cave that has been de-roofed. The Inner Deposits have most of the roof intact and extend for several hundred meters. Most of the site has not been excavated.
Age of the deposits
The Outer Deposits have been dated to around 1.0 million years old based on the size of porcupines recovered. The Inner Deposits have been dated to greater than 70,000 years using radiometric techniques.Other Related Links
HominidsList of fossil sites
Lee Berger
Lee R. Berger
Lee Rogers Berger is a paleoanthropologist, physical anthropologist and archeologist and is best known for his discovery of Australopithecus sediba and his work on Australopithecus africanus body proportions and the Taung Bird of Prey Hypothesis.-Background:Berger was born in Shawnee Mission,...
Cradle of Humankind
Cradle of Humankind
The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies ; it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million...