{"id":12501,"date":"2026-05-08T14:54:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/?p=12501"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:55:02","slug":"90th-anniversary-of-the-first-discovery-of-an-adult-australopithecus-cranium-tm-1511-at-sterkfontein-caves-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/90th-anniversary-of-the-first-discovery-of-an-adult-australopithecus-cranium-tm-1511-at-sterkfontein-caves-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"90th Anniversary of the first discovery of an adult Australopithecus cranium, TM 1511, at Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

R.J. Clarke1<\/sup> and Lazarus Kgasi2<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup> Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/sup> DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Transvaal Museum, now named the DITSONG: Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, is internationally renowned as the custodian of one of the world\u2019s largest collections of fossils relating to early human ancestry. Among these is one particular cranium that is of special significance, because it was in 1936, the first ever discovery of an adult cranium (with teeth) of Australopithecus<\/em>, an early ancestral link between ape and human. The fossil, catalogued as TM 1511, was found at Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa by Dr Robert Broom 90 years ago on 17 and 18 August 1936 (Figure 1). It is important not only for the information it revealed about human evolution, but also for having encouraged further investigations at Sterkfontein and other South African dolomitic limestone caves that have continued to produce fossils of such early ancestors, as well as their contemporary fauna. As a result, this area of caves has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site named the Cradle of Humankind (UNESCO 1999).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Transvaal Museum, now named the DITSONG: Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, is internationally renowned as the custodian of one of the world\u2019s largest collections of fossils relating to early human ancestry. Among these is one particular cranium that is of special significance, because it was in 1936, the first ever discovery of an adult cranium (with teeth) of Australopithecus<\/em>, an early ancestral link between ape and human. The fossil, catalogued as TM 1511, was found at Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa by Dr Robert Broom 90 years ago on 17 and 18 August 1936 (Figure 1). It is important not only for the information it revealed about human evolution, but also for having encouraged further investigations at Sterkfontein and other South African dolomitic limestone caves that have continued to produce fossils of such early ancestors, as well as their contemporary fauna. As a result, this area of caves has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site named the Cradle of Humankind (UNESCO 1999).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 1. The fragmented cranium of TM 1511 found by Broom in 1936, with the Sts 60 endocranial cast replaced in the cranial base. At lower left are the isolated right third molar (top) and the left third molar and first right premolar that were found 66 years later at Sterkfontein. Photo credit: J.L. Heaton & R.J. Clarke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Background to the discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 1925, Professor Raymond Dart published an article on a fossilised infant skull from Buxton Limeworks, Taung (South Africa) that he had discovered and recognised as an ape-like ancestral evolutionary link between ape and human (Dart 1925). He named it Australopithecus<\/em> africanus<\/em>. Some eminent professors were sceptical of Dart\u2019s claims but when Robert Broom, the Scots physician and palaeontologist who had come from Australia to South Africa in 1897, saw the announcement, he wrote immediately to congratulate Dart and two weeks afterwards he was able to travel from Kimberley to Johannesburg to see the skull. Dart generously invited Broom to be a guest at his home whilst he studied the fossil and also gave him permission to publish his own interpretation of it.  Broom (1925) published an excellent analysis with a drawing of how he thought an adult skull of A. africanus <\/em>might appear. He ended the article by predicting, \u201cIt seems to me not at all improbable that an adult Australopithecus<\/em> will yet be obtained, and possibly a perfect skeleton\u201d (p. 418). Fate decreed that it would be Broom himself who would discover such an adult cranium 11 years later at Sterkfontein Caves near Krugersdorp, and that the perfect skeleton would also be discovered at Sterkfontein, but not until 72 years after his prediction (Clarke 1998, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another very enthusiastic and subsequently influential supporter of Dart\u2019s claims concerning the evolutionary significance of the Taung skull was General Jan Smuts, who immediately wrote to congratulate him. In his role as President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Smuts gave a speech in Cape Town on 6th<\/sup> July 1925 during which he praised Dart\u2019s discovery and said that South Africa had immense scope for further such discoveries in its numerous unexplored dolomite caves (as recorded by his son, J.C. Smuts 1952). Smuts himself helped this to happen nine years later when, as newly elected Deputy Prime Minister, he arranged for Broom to be offered a post as palaeontologist at the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria. This followed a 1933 letter from Raymond Dart to Smuts and to J.H. Hofmeyr, Minister of Education and the Interior. Dart expressed his deep concern that the 66-year-old Broom\u2019s intellectual capacity and experience in palaeontology were being wasted whilst he continued as a financially insecure rural medical practitioner and suggested a post should be found for him that utilised his impressive scientific talents (Dart 1951; Findlay 1972). Smuts and Hofmeyr agreed and arranged for Broom to be offered the position of Keeper of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Anthropology. Once Broom took up his position at the museum in August 1934, Dart immediately appointed him as a part time Lecturer in Comparative Anatomy with an honorarium in his Anatomy Department at the University of the Witwatersrand. He knew well that the science students would benefit from Broom\u2019s extraordinary knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his first 18 months at the museum, Broom concentrated on his specialty of collecting and publishing the fossil mammal-like reptiles of the Karoo. Then, in early 1936, he decided to turn his attention to his other big interest, human evolution, and to look for fossils in limestone caves near Pretoria. From the caves of Schurveberg and Gladysvale, he obtained fossil fauna but no hominids. The situation took an eventful turn on 12th<\/sup> July 1936, when Harding Le Riche, one of Dart\u2019s science students, chanced to visit Sterkfontein Caves and was given the fossil brain cast of a monkey by the lime quarry manager, George Barlow. This inspired Le Riche to make two more visits to Sterkfontein. On the 2nd<\/sup> of August, he went there with two fellow students, Robin MacGregor and Gerrit Schepers, and they were thrilled to collect many more fossils, including a monkey mandible, which they then prepared from the matrix. On 3rd<\/sup> August, Le Riche and Schepers visited Broom\u2019s Pretoria home to show him the fossils. They also told him that another science student, Trevor Jones, was studying fossil monkeys he had obtained from Sterkfontein in 1935 (see Jones 1937). Broom realised the potential of the site and asked them if they could take him there, which they gladly did on the 9th<\/sup> of August. On that first ever visit by Broom to Sterkfontein Caves, he asked Barlow, who had previously worked at Taung, if he had ever found anything like the Taung child skull. Barlow replied that he thought he had and promised to keep a look out. Broom went again on 12th<\/sup> August and Barlow gave him three fossil monkey crania and part of a sabre-toothed cat cranium. A very historic moment came on Broom\u2019s third visit to Sterkfontein on 17th<\/sup> August when Barlow handed him a fossil brain cast that was clearly much larger than any monkey and resembled that of an ape. Broom located the impression of the top of the brain case in the breccia of the quarry wall from which the brain cast had been blasted, and he extracted it. On the following day, he returned to Sterkfontein with some helpers and, by searching through the rubble from the mining blast, he discovered the base of the cranium in a breccia block, as well as some associated fragments. After cleaning away some of the breccia, he found the displaced right maxilla with its second premolar and first and second molars in position. Part of the block contained a mass of cemented bones that were friable and needed to be consolidated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery was announced in The Times<\/em> newspaper of London on 26 August, and briefly in the News and Views section of Nature<\/em> on 29 August. In a subsequent article in Illustrated London News<\/em> of 19 September (Broom 1936a), there is a photograph of Broom pointing to the exact position in the breccia of the quarry wall from which the cranium was blasted. Next to him is George Barlow, and behind them are three African assistants, including two Transvaal Museum staff in uniforms. The blast had detached the brain cast, which was given the catalogue number Sts 60, but it fits perfectly into the cranial base of TM 1511. Also on 19 September, Broom (1936b) published an announcement in the journal Nature<\/em>, giving a brief description and photographs of the brain cast placed into the cranial base and two photographs showing the dentition in the right maxilla, as well as a drawing of his attempted restoration of what he named as a new species, Australopithecus transvaalensis<\/em>. Although he thought it could be placed provisionally in the same genus as the Taung child, he considered there were some differences in the first molars and the brain cast, as well as in the fauna. Hence he thought it was of a younger age than Taung and should be placed in a distinct species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One month later, Broom (1936c) gave a brief description of the dentition as he had further cleaned the breccia block and found the left maxilla with both premolars and first and second molars, in perfect condition. The well preserved right third molar was recovered close by in the block. He provided an excellent drawing of the restored dental arch and said that he thought that the missing left third molar was probably present in the breccia, but in fact the left third molar and the right third premolar would only be found an astonishing 66 years later, following processing of a lime miner\u2019s dump by the University of the Witwatersrand Palaeoanthropology Research Unit (Clarke 2012; Figure 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 2. The TM 1511 palate and dentition. The right third premolar and the left third molar were found 66 years later and reunited with the palate, but the third molar is placed next to the second molar because its correct position is covered by breccia. Photo credit:\u00a0 J.L.Heaton & R.J. Clarke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, Broom (1938a) announced his discovery at Sterkfontein of a well preserved anterior right maxilla, with second incisor, canine, third premolar and first molar, of Australopithecus transvaalensis<\/em> (TM 1512) and utilised it to produce a drawing of a restored A. transvaalensis<\/em> cranium in facial view with an imagined mandible. Significantly, he noted the more human-like size of the canine and lateral incisor, which were situated close together (i.e., with no ape-like gap [diastema]).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just over three months later, Broom (1938b) announced a new Sterkfontein discovery that altered his opinion on the taxonomy of TM 1511. He had found a symphyseal portion of a juvenile mandible, TM 1516, with a large unerupted canine (Sts 50) and said the \u201cshape of the symphysis is so different from that of the Taung\u2019s ape that it seems advisable to place A. transvaalensis<\/em> in a distinct genus for which the name Plesianthropus<\/em> is proposed\u201d (p. 377). Thereafter, Broom referred to the cranium TM 1511 as the type specimen for Plesianthropus<\/em>. He was assuming that all the Australopithecus<\/em> fossils at Sterkfontein belong to one species, and he would continue to place all of his subsequent discoveries from Sterkfontein into Plesianthropus transvaalensis<\/em> with what he considered large-toothed males and smaller-toothed females (Broom and Schepers 1946; Broom, Robinson and Schepers 1950). The increasing number of such discoveries in South Africa has, however, indicated that there is not simply a size difference, but that there are significant morphological differences indicative of two species, A. africanus <\/em>and Australopithecus prometheus<\/em>, a species named by Dart (1948) on fossils from Makapansgat (Clarke 2013; Clarke and Kuman 2019). From the long term, continuous excavations at Sterkfontein that have yielded large numbers of Australopithecus<\/em> fossils, it seems most probable that Broom had unknowingly associated the cranium of one species (A. africanus<\/em>) with the mandible and canine of another species (A. prometheus<\/em>), which does have large canines, and a gap (diastema) between the upper incisor and canine that would accommodate the projecting lower canine as in the apes (Clarke and Kuman 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration, description and age of TM 1511<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the several, mostly disconnected parts of TM 1511, some of which were still embedded in matrix, Broom was able to make a good restoration drawing of the skull in lateral and facial views. For the mandible, however, he used the TM 1516 symphyseal portion with the large Sts 50 canine and drew an imagined, correspondingly prominent, overlapping canine in the upper jaw (see Broom and Schepers 1946: 44-45). This accorded with his 1925 drawing of the prophesied adult, and with his drawn restoration in the Broom 1936a announcement. It also accorded with his stated acceptance of the Piltdown skull as a genuine fossil (see Broom and Schepers 1946: 53). That skull would be revealed as a forgery in 1953 (two years after Broom\u2019s death), consisting of part of a large and thick human brain case and an orangutan mandible with modifications and staining to make it look fossilised. In 1944 or earlier, Broom also made a plaster restoration of the TM 1511 skull (Figure 3), which he is seen holding in a photograph that he inscribed to Clarence van Riet Lowe, with a date of 1944 (Dart 1951). Later, two bronze busts were made by sculptor Elsa Dziomba of Broom in the same pose holding his restored skull of TM 1511 (Figure 4). One sculpture was subsequently unveiled by General Smuts at the Transvaal Museum, and the other was placed at the tourist exit of the Sterkfontein caves (Figure 5). In 1991, this image appeared on a 65 cent South African stamp, but regrettably the stamp was labelled as Dr Robert Broom with Mrs Ples. It is certainly not Mrs Ples, which was the nickname given by The Star newspaper in 1947 (three years after the TM 1511 model was made) to the undistorted though toothless cranium, Sts 5, discovered by Broom and Robinson in April that year (Broom 1947).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 3. Broom’s reconstruction model of TM 1511. Photo credit: J.L. Heaton & R. J. Clarke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Figure 4. Dr Broom with Elsa Dziomba working on her sculpture of him with his TM 1511 reconstructed model. Photo credit: archives of A.R. Hughes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Figure 5. The bust of Broom holding TM 1511 at the Sterkfontein caves tourist exist. Photo credit: R.J. Clarke<\/em>
\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although time has shown that Broom was mistaken in the large overlapping canines in his restoration, the model is otherwise good, as was demonstrated by another Australopithecus<\/em> cranium, StW 53, found at Sterkfontein exactly 40 years after Broom\u2019s discovery (Hughes & Tobias 1977). This fragmented cranium was reconstructed in 1984 by Clarke (1985), who subsequently noted that the finished result was remarkably similar to Broom\u2019s model of TM 1511, and that the cranial morphology and dentition matches very closely (see Clarke 2017 and Clarke et al. 2021). When StW 53 was found by Hughes in August 1976, he and Tobias mistakenly thought it was from a deposit containing early stone tools and they therefore classed it as Homo<\/em> (Hughes and Tobias 1976). Thereafter, it has appeared in countless publications as a South African Homo habilis<\/em>, even though it has no features of that species but does have all the features of A. africanus<\/em>, as shown by Ferguson (1989).  Furthermore, the cranium did not come from the stone tool breccia but from an older deposit that was only much later identified (Clarke 1994; and see Kuman and Clarke 2000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom (1938c) published his very good drawing of the Sts 60 endocranial (brain) cast, which he estimated to have a cranial capacity of 440 cc, and in 1946 he described the cranial and dental morphology of TM 1511 (Broom and Schepers 1946). In that same volume, Schepers described in detail the endocranial cast of Sts 60, which he referred to as Plesianthropus transvaalensis<\/em> Type 1 and gave an endocranial capacity estimate of 435 cc. That cast is actually the calcified sedimentary infill of the inside of the TM 1511 brain case, from which it was separated by the dynamite blast. The cast has preserved good surface integrity that enabled Schepers to make a detailed study and comparison with a few other partial Australopithecus<\/em> endocasts from Sterkfontein, as well as with that of Taung. The occipital portion and back of the right side of Sts 60 were unfortunately broken away in the blast and never found, but from part of the occipital bone that was preserved, it was possible to reconstruct the back of the endocast. In turn, the whole endocast, when replaced in the cranial base, enabled Broom to restore the brain case. It is of interest that 10 years earlier it was Schepers and Harding Le Riche who had taken Sterkfontein monkey fossils, including an endocranial cast, to show to Robert Broom. Schepers later described the endocranial cast of Sts 5 (Mrs Ples) (Broom, Robinson and Schepers 1950).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dentition was earlier described by Gregory and Hellman (1939), who were invited by Broom to Pretoria to study the Australopithecus<\/em> fossils. They also depicted their restoration of the dental arcade of TM 1511. From their examination of the cranial bones, they produced a model of the restored cranium with imagined mandible (Gregory and Hellman 1940). Broom (in Broom & Robinson1946: 24) referred to that restoration of the skull, saying that it was useful as a provisional restoration but it was \u201cnot quite satisfactory as the upper canine is restored from the female maxilla, while the type skull is almost certainly that of a male.\u201d He also said, \u201cThe occipital region should be much wider than in Gregory and Hellman\u2019s restoration and the palate considerably wider\u201d (p. 24). From the many subsequent fossils that have been discovered at Sterkfontein, it is apparent that Gregory and Hellman were correct with the canine, but Broom was correct with some other parts of his restoration of the cranium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The age of TM 1511 when Broom published in 1936 was thought by him to be Pleistocene because little was known about the fauna or stratigraphy at the Sterkfontein lime quarry. The first ever attempt to understand the stratigraphy of the Sterkfontein cave deposits was by a young geologist, H.B.S. Cooke (1938). That marked the beginning of Cooke\u2019s outstanding lifetime contributions to African palaeontology, palaeoanthropology, and biostratigraphy in which fossil fauna could be used for correlations between sites for relative dating (Cooke 1986). Indeed such a method of dating was the case in 1946 when Broom, still thinking that Sterkfontein might be Lower Pleistocene in age, received new faunal information. It was in the form of a primitive hyaena collected by Dr H.K. Silberberg from a lower cave at Sterkfontein. The fossil was recognised as important by the Abb\u00e9 Breuil, who took it to Broom for his opinion. Broom realised that it was a Pliocene form of hyaena and named it Lycaena silberbergi <\/em>(Broom and Schepers 1946), <\/em>now known as Chasmaporthetes silberbergi. <\/em>This made him realise that Sterkfontein was far older faunally than he had thought, and at least Upper Pliocene. We now know that Broom was correct, because the application of cosmogenic nuclide dating has given TM 1511 a Pliocene age of about 3.4\/3.5 million years (Granger et al. 2022). Dates for the Pliocene are from about 5.33 million years, until the Pleistocene epoch dating from ca. 2.58 million to 11,700 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of TM 1511<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wealth of sites and fossils we have today from South and East Africa relating to human ancestry started with Broom\u2019s 1925 enthusiastic support for Dart\u2019s interpretation of the Taung child skull, and his prediction that an adult would be found. Eleven years later, he searched for and found such a fossil. That was followed in the last 15 years of his life by his discovery of many more fossils of Australopithecus<\/em> at Sterkfontein, and a new and extraordinary, flatter-faced form of ape-man (Paranthropus robustus<\/em>) at Kromdraai. Then in 1948, assisted by the young zoologist John Robinson, Broom found many Paranthropus<\/em> fossils at Swartkrans, as well as the first early Homo<\/em> contemporary with Paranthropus<\/em>. Broom\u2019s enthusiasm and indefatigable dedication to palaeontological research have been an inspiration to generations of researchers pursuing the clues related to the story of human origins. This is well illustrated by the example of Phillip Tobias who, as a 20-year-old student inspired by the discoveries of Dart and Broom, led a group of Dart\u2019s medical science students to Makapansgat Limeworks in 1945. There they collected some fossils, including monkeys, which were enthusiastically received by their part-time lecturer, Broom, who wrote to Tobias and said, \u201cQuite likely in the same deposit you may find some new sort of early man or pre-man which may be even more important than the discoveries made at Taung or Sterkfontein or Kromdraai\u201d (Tobias 2005: 39). Two years later, James Kitching did indeed find there the back of a brain case of a new sort of ape-man that Dart named Australopithecus prometheus<\/em> (Dart 1948). Many more Australopithecus<\/em> fossils were later recovered at Makapansgat mainly by Alun Hughes and the three Kitching brothers (James, Ben and Scheepers). The young Tobias was destined to become a prominent palaeoanthropologist describing many early hominid fossils that would be found by Louis and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. In 1966, he and Hughes opened systematic excavations at Sterkfontein, which have continued until the present day and produced the perfect skeleton that Broom (1925) had anticipated (Clarke 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the first adult example of an Australopithecus<\/em>, TM 1511 presented strong support for Dart’s claim that the Taung child was not simply an immature ape, as many prominent researchers had argued at the time. The specimen’s mosaic of features\u2014a small ape-size brain combined with clear bipedal adaptations in the base of the skull and human-like teeth\u2014established Australopithecus <\/em>as a human ancestral relative, reinforced by Broom\u2019s realization that Sterkfontein was Pliocene in age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we mark the 90th anniversary of their discovery, TM 1511 and Sts 60 remain foundational specimens in paleoanthropology. Together, they represent the first adult Australopithecus <\/em>ever recovered, validating Australopithecus africanus<\/em> as an early evolutionary link between ape and human. Its anatomy – small brain coupled with bipedal adaptations\u2014established the fundamental principle that upright walking preceded brain enlargement in human evolution. These specimens also transformed paleoanthropology, shifting scientific attention from Europe and Asia to Africa and establishing the Cradle of Humankind as a world-renowned fossil locality. As Louis Leakey (1948: 165) wrote: \u201cThe eyes of the world are focused upon the African continent today because of the wonderful discoveries–made in South Africa by Professor R. Dart and Dr. Robert Broom, F.R.S,–of fossil Hominoidea which seem to stand in such close relationship to man as to suggest that Africa must have been the birth place of true man.\u201d Today, curated at the DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria, they stand as both a scientific benchmark and a treasured piece of African heritage (DITSONG 2024). The 90th anniversary of TM 1511 is not merely a commemoration of an historic find, but a celebration of the enduring legacy of South African contributions to understanding our shared human origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1925. On the newly discovered South African man-ape. Natural History<\/em> 25(4): 409-418.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1936a. On a new ancestral link between ape and man. Illustrated London News <\/em>189: 476-477.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1936b. New fossil anthropoid skull from South Africa. Nature<\/em>, 138(3490): 486-488.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1936c. The dentition of Australopithecus<\/em>. Nature<\/u><\/em> 138: 719.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R.  1938a. More discoveries of Australopithecus<\/em>. Nature<\/em> 141(3575): 828-829.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1938b. The Pleistocene anthropoid apes of South Africa. Nature<\/em> 142(3591): 377-379.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1938c. Further evidence on the structure of the South African Pleistocene anthropoids. Nature <\/em>142: 897-189.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. 1947. Discovery of a new skull of the South African ape-man, Plesianthropus<\/em>. Nature<\/em>, 159(4040): 400.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R. & Schepers & G.W.H. 1946. The South African fossil ape-men: the <\/em>Australopithecinae.<\/em> Transvaal Museum Memoir No. 2, Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broom, R., Robinson, J., & Schepers, G.W.H. 1950. Sterkfontein Ape-Man, <\/em>Plesianthropus. <\/em>Transvaal Museum Memoir No. 4, Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 1985. Australopithecus <\/em>and early Homo<\/em> in southern Africa. In E. Delson (ed.): Ancestors: The Hard Evidence<\/em>. New York, Alan R. Liss, pp. 171-177.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 1994. On some new interpretations of Sterkfontein stratigraphy. South African Journal of Science<\/em> 90: 211-214.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 1998. First ever discovery of a well-preserved skull and associated skeleton of Australopithecus<\/em>. South African Journal of Science<\/em> 94: 460-463.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 2012. A brief review of history and results of 40 years of Sterkfontein excavations. In: S. Reynolds & A. Gallagher (eds.): African Genesis.<\/em> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 120-141.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 2013. Australopithecus<\/em> from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa. In: K. E. Reed, J.G. Fleagle & R.E. Leakey, R.E. (eds.). The Paleobiology of Australopithecus<\/em>. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 105-123.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 2017. Homo habilis<\/em>: the inside story. In: M. Sahnouni, S. Semaw, J.R. Garaizar (eds), Proceedings of the II Meeting of African Prehistory<\/em>. Centro Nacional de Investigaci\u00f3n sobre la Evoluci\u00f3n Humana, Burgos (Spain), pp. 25-51.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J. 2019. Excavation, reconstruction and taphonomy of the StW 573 Australopithecus prometheus<\/em> skeleton from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution<\/em> 127, 41-53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R. & Kuman, K. 2019. The skull of StW 573, a 3.67 Ma Australopithecus prometheus<\/em> skeleton from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution<\/em>, 134(102634): 1-3110.1016\/j.jhevol.2019.06.005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, R.J., Pickering, T.R., Heaton, J.L., & Kuman, K. 2021. The earliest South African hominids. Annual Review of Anthropology <\/em>50: 125-43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooke, H.B.S. 1938. The Sterkfontein bone breccia: a geological note. South African Journal of Science<\/em> 35: 204-208.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooke, H.B.S. 1986. Changing perspectives on the age of man. A geologist\u2019s personal view. Raymond Dart Lectures, Lecture 21. Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dart, R.A. 1925. Australopithecus africanus<\/em>: the man-ape of South Africa. Nature<\/em>, 115(2884): 195-199.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dart, R.A. 1948. The Makapansgat Proto-Human Australopithecus prometheus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology<\/em> 6: 259-284.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dart, R.A. 1951. Robert Broom\u2014his life and work. South African Journal of Science 48(1): 3-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History 2024. Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Collection Catalogue<\/em>. Pretoria: DNMNH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson, W.W. 1989. Reappraisal of the taxonomic status of the cranium StW 53 from the Plio\/Pleistocene of Sterkfontein, in South Africa. Primates<\/em> 30(1): 103-109.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gregory, W.K & Hellman, M. 1940. The upper dental arch of Plesianthropus transvaalensis<\/em> Broom, and its relations to other parts of the skull. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 26: 211-228.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hughes, A.R. & Tobias, P.V. 1977. A fossil skull probably of the genus Homo<\/em> from Sterkfontein, Transvaal. Nature<\/em> 265: 310-312.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones, T.R. 1937. A new fossil primate from Sterkfontein, Krugersdorp, Transvaal. South African Journal of Science<\/em> 33: 709-728.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuman, K. & Clarke, R.J. 2000. Stratigraphy, artefact industries and hominid associations for Sterkfontein, Member 5. Journal of Human Evolution<\/em>, 38(6): 827-847.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leakey, L.S.B. 1948. Fossil and sub-fossil Hominoidea in East Africa. In A.L. Du Toit (ed.), Robert Broom Commemorative Volume<\/em>. Cape Town, Royal Society of South Africa, pp. 165-170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UNESCO World Heritage Centre 1999. Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/915<\/a> [Accessed: 2026].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R.J. Clarke1 and Lazarus Kgasi2 1 Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2 DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria Introduction The Transvaal Museum, now named the DITSONG: Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, is internationally renowned as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":12504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-12501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-23 05:30:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12509,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501\/revisions\/12509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12501"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=12501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}