Malapa cave

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Entrance to the cave

The Malapa Cave is a South African fossil site in the area of ​​the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cradle of Humankind , 1442 m above sea ​​level . It is located 40 kilometers west of Johannesburg and 15 km north-northeast of the well-known fossil sites of Sterkfontein , Swartkrans and Kromdraai . The Malapa Cave became internationally known in the spring of 2010 after the paleoanthropologist Lee Berger announced the discovery of two 1.9 million year old skeletons of the genus Australopithecus and attributed them to the new species Australopithecus sediba . The remains of four individuals of this species and a number of other items found in the Malapa cave are now known.

Today's fossil site emerged as part of a cave system that was formed as a result of erosion in a 2.64 to 2.50 billion year old, stromatolite- rich, neo-archaic dolomite rock. By geological secured studies that this cave system was at least 500 meters long and 100 meters wide. Some of these including through seepage , penetrating surface water formed and underground rivers Karst caves had to sinkholes vertical openings to the surface ( Sinkholes could fall) through which animals in the caves. The researchers suspect that the fossil remains of animal carcasses discovered in the Malapa cave were washed down in the cave by masses of water that penetrated later, piled up there and buried under washed-up and falling rock. Later the cave system was completely filled with rock and in this way the fossils were ultimately saved from complete destruction in concrete-like hard clastic sedimentary rock . In the early 20th century, quarry workers had partially exposed the area of ​​the Malapa Cave.

The cave was only discovered in 2008 by Lee Berger and Paul Dirks, a South African geology professor, when they both scanned the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cradle of Humankind for previously unknown, seemingly productive rock formations with the help of Google Earth .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lee R. Berger et al .: Australopithecus sediba: A New Species of Homo-Like Australopith from South Africa . In: Science . 328, 2010, pp. 195-204. doi : 10.1126 / science.1184944 .
  2. ↑ Four Individuals Caught in 'Death Trap' May Shed Light on Human Ancestors. On: sciencemag.org of April 19, 2011. Same text as: Ann Gibbons: A new Ancestor for Homo? In: Science. Volume 332, 2011, p. 534, doi: 10.1126 / science.332.6029.534-a
  3. ^ Paul HGM Dirks et al .: Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa. In: Science. Volume 328, 2010, pp. 205-208, doi : 10.1126 / science.1184950
  4. ^ About the Discovery. (with images of the fossil site, status: 2010) ( Memento from September 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) On: wits.ac.za , accessed on September 7, 2015

Coordinates: 25 ° 53 ′ 42.5 ″  S , 27 ° 48 ′ 4.8 ″  E