Cooper's Cave

Coordinates: 26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°E / -26.01278; 27.74583
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Cooper's Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Map showing the location of Cooper's Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Map showing the location of Cooper's Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Location in Gauteng
LocationGauteng, South Africa
Nearest cityKrugersdorp, South Africa
Coordinates26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°E / -26.01278; 27.74583
EstablishedIncorporated into the Cradle of Humankind 1999
Governing bodyCradle of Humankind and private landowner

Cooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing

South African National Heritage Site.[1]

History of investigations

Cooper's Cave is now recognised as the fifth richest hominid site in the

Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand
.

Tools

Cooper's Cave has provided a rich tool assemblage that has been provisionally assigned to the Developed Olduwan. Cooper's is arguably the second richest early stone tool site in the Cradle of Humankind area.[2]

Geology

Cooper's is a series of breccia-filled dolomitic caves that formed in fissures along geological faults.[3]

Age of the deposits

Cooper's D has been dated by uranium-lead methods (Robyn Pickering, U. Melbourne) to between 1.5 and 1.4 million years ago.[3] Cooper's A, based on the animals recovered, is thought to be about the same age.[4]

Gallery

  • View of Cooper's D from West. Cooper's A is in the far background left of the pine tree
    View of Cooper's D from West. Cooper's A is in the far background left of the pine tree
  • An extinct giant giraffe molar (left) from Coopers Cave compared in size to a large adult male giraffe tooth still in the mandible (right)
    An extinct giant giraffe molar (left) from Coopers Cave compared in size to a large adult male giraffe tooth still in the mandible (right)
  • Coopers A viewed from the West
    Coopers A viewed from the West
  • Coopers D from the East
    Coopers D from the East
  • Quartz stone tools still encased in breccia at the Cooper's site
    Quartz stone tools still encased in breccia at the Cooper's site
  • Stone tools of the Developed Olduwan from Cooper's D. Pictured are a hammerstone, an unknown object made of shale, and quartz flake tools
    Stone tools of the Developed Olduwan from Cooper's D. Pictured are a hammerstone, an unknown object made of shale, and quartz flake tools
  • Megantereon jaw (A type of sabre-toothed cat) from Cooper's
    Megantereon jaw (A type of sabre-toothed cat) from Cooper's

References

  1. ^ "9/2/233/0024 - Coopers, Zwartkrans 172 IQ, Gauteng". South African Heritage Resources Agency. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-77007-065-3
    .
  3. ^
    hdl:10520/EJC97628
    .
  4. PMID 8238287
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cooper's Cave.
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