Malapa is a fossil-bearing cave located about northeast of the well known
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 O ...
n
hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
-bearing sites of
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 K ...
and
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 ...
and about north-northwest of
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
, South Africa. It is situated within the
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 concentrat ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.
History of investigations
In March 2008,
Lee Berger of the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...
, 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
Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...
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 there in 1935.
At the beginning of this project, there were approximately 130 known cave sites in the region and around twenty fossil deposits.
By July 2008, the pattern of cave distribution seen on Google Earth by Berger as well as the recognition of what these deposits looked like from satellites and significant amounts of searching on the ground had led Berger to discover almost 500 caves that scientists had not plotted or identified previously.
Included in this were more than 25 fossil sites that had been unknown to science, all in probably the most explored region in Africa. Berger brought in geologist Paul Dirks, at that time Head of the School of GeoSciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, to lead the geological aspects of this exploratory project.
In late July 2008, Berger noted in Google Earth a series of caves running along a fault that pointed to a blank area in the region, an area that appeared to have clusters of trees that typically marked cave deposits.
On 1 August he dropped off Dirks to map the recognized cave system and proceeded into the uninvestigated area with his dog Tau, a
Rhodesian Ridgeback who accompanied him on almost all his explorations.
Almost immediately he discovered a rich fossil site that was unknown to science, in the vicinity of more than three dozen caves that had been apparently unrecognized by previous researchers.

On 15 August, Berger returned to the site with his post-doctoral student, Dr. Job Kibii, and Berger's 9-year-old son
Matthew. Within minutes,
Matthew Berger had discovered the first remains of early human ancestors - a
clavicle
The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the scapula, shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavic ...
, or collar bone. On the opposite side of the block, Berger quickly discovered a jawbone with a canine tooth of a
hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...
. The find was later identified as part of a partial skeleton of a juvenile hominid, around 9 – 13 years of age.
On 4 September 2008, Berger returned to the site with more than a dozen colleagues, where Berger discovered a second partial skeleton of an adult female.
Recovered fossils
The site has produced arguably one of the most complete assemblages of early human ancestors ever found, including the most complete skeletons of early hominids yet discovered, and by far the most complete remains of any hominid dating to around 2 million years ago.
Over 200 elements have been recovered to date.
The partial skeletons are initially described in two papers in the journal ''
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' by Berger and colleagues as a new species of early human ancestor called ''
Australopithecus sediba
''Australopithecus sediba'' is an extinct species of australopithecine recovered from Malapa Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind, Malapa Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. It is known from a partial juvenile skeleton, the holotype MH1, and a ...
'' (sediba meaning natural spring or well in Sotho).
In addition to the fossils revealed initially, rocks collected from the site have been examined with
CT scans
A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...
and contain even more bones, suggesting that the type specimen, Karabo, will become even more complete.
The species is suggested by the authors to be a good candidate for being the transitional species between the southern African ape-man ''
Australopithecus africanus
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontei ...
'' (the
Taung Child,
Mrs. Ples) and either ''
Homo habilis
''Homo habilis'' ( 'handy man') is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.4 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago ( mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...
'' or even a direct ancestor of ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...
'' (
Turkana Boy
Turkana Boy, also called Nariokotome Boy, is the name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a ''Homo erectus'' youth who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever fo ...
,
Java Man,
Peking Man
Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'', originally "''Sinanthropus pekinensis''") is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' which inhabited what is now northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in a cave some southw ...
).
The species has long arms, like an
ape, short powerful hands, a very advanced
pelvis
The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...
, and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human.
The skeletons were found among the articulated skeletons of a sabre-toothed cat,
antelope
The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...
s and even
mice
A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
and
hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...
s.
Geology
The fossils are preserved in a hard, concrete-like substance known as calcified
clastic
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by ...
sediments that formed at the bottom of what appears to be a shallow underground lake or pool that was possibly as much as underground at the time.
It is not known how these skeletons came to be in this pool, but it appears that they may have taken a significant fall.
No
carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...
s or
scavenger
Scavengers are animals that consume Corpse decomposition, dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a he ...
s reached their bodies.
Age of the deposits
The fossil was dated using a combination of
paleomagnetism
Paleomagnetism (occasionally palaeomagnetism) is the study of prehistoric Earth's magnetic fields recorded in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials. Geophysicists who specialize in paleomagnetism are called ''paleomagnetists.''
Certain ...
and
uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating by Andy Herries (
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...
, Australia), Robyn Pickering (
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, Australia) and Jan Kramers (
University of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university
A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...
, South Africa). U-Pb dating of the underlying
flowstone
Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals, formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution caves", in limestone, where they are the most common speleothe ...
indicates that the fossils are not older than 2.0 million years old. The occurrence of species of animal that became extinct ~1.5 million years ago indicate the deposit is not younger than 1.5 million years old. The sediments have a 'normal' magnetic polarity, and the only major period between 2.0 and 1.5 million years ago when this occurred was the Olduvai sub-Chron between 1.95 and 1.78 million years ago, and so in 2010 the fossil was suggested to be around 1.95 million years old based on the transitional nature of some of the sediments and the stratigraphy at the site.
In 2011 a more accurate date of the fossils was established when a capping flowstone was too old to enable the normal polarity deposits to date to the Olduvai event. The deposits were instead correlated to a ~3000 year long period centred at around 1.977 million years ago and known as the Pre-Olduvai event.
See also
*
List of fossil sites
References
External links
Free Images and resources about "Australopithecus sediba" and Malapa for Educators and Students
{{Greater Johannesburg, natural
Archaeological sites in South Africa
Pliocene
Caves of South Africa
Limestone caves
Landforms of Gauteng
Paleoanthropological sites
Archaeological sites of Southern Africa
Cradle of Humankind