Coopers Cave South Africa

Coopers Cave South Africa
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Coopers Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Map of South Africa
Location	Gauteng, South Africa
Nearest city	Krugersdorp, South Africa
Coordinates	26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / -26.01278, 27.74583
Area	less than 400 m
Established	Incorporated into the Cradle of Humankind 1999
Governing body	Cradle of Humankind and Private Landowner

1 Geographical Location
2 History of Investigations
3 Recovered Fossils
4 Tools
- 4.1 Geology
  - 4.1.1 age of the deposits
5 Other Related Links
6 References
7 External links

Geographical Location

Cooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about 40km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.

View of Cooper's D from West. Cooper's A is in the far background left of the pine tree.

History of Investigations

Cooper's has been investigated for fossils since 1938 when Julius Staz found a hominid (ape-man) tooth in the mine dumps at the site while leading a student visit to nearby Sterkfontein^[1]. C.K "Bob" Brain worked at the site in 1954 and recovered a large number of fossil animals but reported no hominids. He also named the deposits Cooper's A and B. Surprisingly, more than forty years later, work by researchers and students on this collection of Brain's noted two hominid specimens - an isolated tooth and a crushed face^[2]. In 2001 Lee Berger discovered a new deposit near where Brain had worked and called it Cooper's D. With Duke University students, local technicians and South African students within days of opening these excavations, hominid remains were found^[3].. Cooper's D is now recognized at the fifth richest hominid site in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (behind Sterkfontein,

An extinct giant giraffe molar(left) from Coopers Cave compared in size to a large adult male giraffe tooth still in the mandible (right).

Swartkrans, Drimolen and Kromdraai and one of the richest sites for early homninid stone tools of the Developed Olduwan culture,^[2]. Excavations are still underway at Cooper's and are currently being directed by Lee Berger and Christine Steininger of the Institute for Human Evolution and the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand

Recovered Fossils

Tens of thousands of fossils have been recovered from Cooper's A and Coopers D with Coopers D now being by far the larger collection. Fossil of hominids have been attributed to both early Homo as well as Paranthropus robustus^[3]. Other fauna include many extinct pigs, giant extinct giraffe, monkeys, hyenas, sabre-tooth and false sabre-tooth cats and abundant micro-fauna (mice and rodents

Tools

Cooper's D has provided a rich tool assemblage that has been

Stone tools of the Developed Olduwan from Cooper's D. Pictured are a hammerstone, an unknown object made of shale, and quartz flake tools.

provisionally assigned to the Developed Olduwan. Cooper's is arguably the second richest early stone tool site in the Cradle of Humankind area^[2].

Quartz stone tools still encased in breccia at the Cooper's site.

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 absolutely dated to 1.65 to 1.8 million years old ^[3]. Cooper's A, based on the animals recovered, is thought to be about the same age^[1].