On Saturday we when to the area called the Cradle of Mankind near Johanesburg. The first stop was at Sterkfontain Caves which is one of the most important sites in the discovery of human origins. Turns out the caves are caverns formed over 3 million years ago and were not were the early humans lived but were they accidentally fell into openinings at the surface loosely covered with dirt or brush. The fall was about three stories with no way out. Calcium carbonate was dissolved from the 3 million old dolomitic rocks encapsulating the remains (bones). As you know South Africa intital wealth came from gold mined from the Witwatersrand Basin running through Johanesburg. To process this gold, the mines needed calcium which they found near by. In mining the calcium, they routinely would discover bones. Luckily a professor at Witswatersrand University had acquired the skull of Taung child from SA also, so when bones were found at Sterkfontain he went to look for more. Sterkfontain Caves along with other nearby sites have produced the proof that humans originated in Africa. Kendall and I have now walked in the same area as our most earlier ancestors of 2 million years ago. Along with the cave visit we saw two museums with fossils and bones of early humans and animals along with the stone tools they used. Jim is shown on the left heading down into the caves. More pictures to be posted later.