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List Of Fossil Sites
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of the entries in this list are considered Lagerstätten (sedimentary deposits that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues). Lagerstätten are indicated by a note () in the noteworthiness column. Fossils may be found either associated with a geological formation or at a single geographic site. Geological formations consist of rock that was deposited during a specific period of time. They usually extend for large areas, and sometimes there are different important sites in which the same formation is exposed. Such sites may have separate entries if they are considered to be more notable than the formation as a whole. In contrast, extensive formations associated with large areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleontological Site
A paleontological or fossiliferous site is a locality in which a significant quantity of fossils is naturally preserved in the rocks. The extent of the site is determined, in some cases, by the spatial distribution of the concentration of fossils and in others by practical issues of sampling or excavation. The discipline that studies the formation of fossil sites is the part of paleontology called taphonomy. The term paleontological site is somewhat ambiguous and its use is more practical than scientific, so it can refer to localities in which several fossiliferous layers of different ages appear, whose study must be faced by clearly separating each layer (strictly speaking, each layer would be a different site). The term ''Lagerstätte, fossil-lagerstätte'' (from the German ''Fossillagerstätte'', "fossil site") is often used for some sites with a special quality of fossils or with a high number of remains. Types of sites Fossils can be found in many different types of rocks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ameki Formation
The Ameki Formation is a Lutetian to Bartonian geological formation located in Nigeria. It belongs to the Bende-Ameki Group, which also consists of two formations namely Nanka Formation, Nsugbe Formation. Fossil content Among others, the following fossils have been reported in the formation: at .org Mammals Reptiles Birds Squamates Turtles Invertebrates Cephalopods See also * |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swartkrans
Swartkrans or Swartkranz is a fossil-bearing cave designated as a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African National Heritage Site, located about from Johannesburg. It is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominin remains. Fossils discovered in the limestone of Swartkrans include ''Homo ergaster'' (a variety of ''Homo erectus''), ''Paranthropus'' and ''Homo habilis''. The oldest deposits present at the site are believed to be between 1.9 and 2.1 million years old. Noted paleontologist Robert Broom was a frequent digger. He was followed by Charles Kimberlin Brain, C. K. 'Bob' Brain, whose excavations at the site inspired his book ''The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy, The Hunters or the Hunted?'' in which he demonstrated that instead of being bloodthirsty killer apes, the hominin fossils found at the site were themselves victims of pred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sterkfontein
Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of Krugersdorp. The archaeological sites of Swartkrans and Kromdraai are in the same area. Sterkfontein is a South African National Heritage Site and was also declared a World Heritage Site in 2000. The area in which it is situated is known as the Cradle of Humankind. The Sterkfontein Caves are also home to numerous wild African species including '' Belonogaster petiolata'', a wasp species of which there is a large nesting presence. Numerous early hominin remains have been found at the site over the last few decades. These have been attributed to ''Australopithecus'', early ''Homo'' and '' Paranthropus''. In 2024 the cave was closed to visitors by its owner due to flooding. The caves reopened to the public on 15 April 2025. History of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plovers Lake
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 Johannesburg. Plovers Lake has been declared a South African National Heritage Site. History of investigations Plovers Lake had two periods of excavation: one in the late 1980s and early 1990s by C.K. "Bob" Brain and Francis Thackeray of the Transvaal Museum (now known as the Northern Flagship Institute) in the "Outer Deposits", and the second by Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand and Steve Churchill of Duke University between 2000 and 2004 in the "Inner Deposits". Recovered fossils Thousands of fossils were found by both teams. In the Outer Deposits, Brain and Thakeray discovered a very fine fossil baboon that had survived a leopard or saber-toothed cat attack, as evidenced by a healed wound over the eye. They also discover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motsetsi
Motsetsi Cave (also known as Motsetse) is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cavity located about east of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about north-northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. Motsetsi has been declared a South African National Heritage Site. History of investigations Motsetsi has been investigated since its discovery by Lee Berger in 1999. Since then a series of part-time excavations have recovered tens of thousands of fossils. Excavations have been conducted at Motsetse by the University of the Witwatersrand and at times in conjunction with Peter Schmid of the University of Zurich. Only a very small part of this site has been excavated. Recovered fossils Of the many thousands of fossils recovered from Motsetsi, no hominid fossils have yet been found. Many very fine fossils of other animals, however, have been discovered including the remains of very well preserved ''Dinofelis ''Dinofelis'' is an extinct g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malapa
Malapa is a fossil-bearing cave located about northeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and about north-northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is situated within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. History of investigations In March 2008, Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, undertook an exploration project in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site outside of Johannesburg, in order to map the known caves identified by him and his colleagues over the past several decades, and to place known fossil sites onto Google Earth so that information could be shared with colleagues. The area is important as nearly a third of the entire evidence for human origins in Africa comes from just a few sites in this region, and the region is arguably one of the most explored areas in Africa for evidence of human origins, having been investigated continuously since the first discoveries were made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kromdraai Fossil Site
Kromdraai (Afrikaans for "crooked turn") is a fossil-bearing breccia-filled cave located about east of the well-known South African hominid-bearing site of Sterkfontein and about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is situated within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is itself a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African National Heritage Site. History of investigations In 1938, the site was brought to the attention of Robert Broom by a local schoolboy named Gert Terrblanche who had discovered several hominin teeth. The teeth formed part of a skull that would become the holotype of ''Paranthropus robustus''. Broom began excavations at the site that would continue until approximately 1947 and would result in the discovery of numerous hominin remains. Two deposits were noted and named at the site — Kromdraai A (KA) and Kromdraai B (KB)— the latter being the site where the hominin remains were recovered. In 1955 Charles Kimberlin Brain, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gladysvale Cave
Gladysvale Cave is a fossil-bearing breccia filled cave located about northeast of the well-known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and about north-northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is situated within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is itself a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African National Heritage Site. History of investigations Gladysvale is the first cave that Robert Broom visited in the Transvaal in his mid-1930s search for a hominid-bearing cave nearer to Johannesburg than Taung. He visited Gladysvale after a butterfly collector from the Transvaal Museum reported a "human mandible" in the wall of the cave. When Broom arrived at the cave the mandible was gone. Sterkfontein soon lured Broom away from the site. In 1946 Phillip V. Tobias, Phillip Tobias led a student expedition to the site where a fine baboon fossil was recovered. In 1948 Frank Peabody of the Camp-Peabody expedition from the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coopers Cave
Cooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities. The cave is located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa and has been declared a South African National Heritage Site. History of investigations Cooper's Cave is now recognised as the fifth richest hominid site in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (behind Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Drimolen and Kromdraai) and one of the richest sites for early hominid stone tools of the Developed Olduwan culture. Excavations are still underway at Cooper's and are currently being directed by Christine Steininger and Lee Berger of the Institute for Human Evolution and the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cradle Of Humankind
The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site that is located about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world. The site currently occupies and contains a complex system of limestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa. According to the '' South African Journal of Science'', Bolt's Farm is the place where the earliest primates were discovered. Bolt's Farm was heavily mined for speleothem (calcium carbonate from stalagmites, stalactites, and flowstones) in the terminal nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Sterkfontein Caves were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-old fossil '' Australopithecus africanus'' (nicknamed " Mrs. Ples"), found in 1947 by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. The fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
