Coopers Cave

Coopers Cave Fossil Site, Cradle of Humankind
Location in Gauteng
Location	Gauteng, South Africa
Nearest city	Krugersdorp, South Africa
Coordinates	26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°E / -26.01278; 27.74583Coordinates: 26°00′46″S 27°44′45″E / 26.01278°S 27.74583°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

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 40 km Northwest of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tools

Cooper's D 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^[1].

Geology

Cooper's is a series of breccia-filled dolomitic caves that formed in fissures along geological faults^[2].

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 ^[2]. Cooper's A, based on the animals recovered, is thought to be about the same age^[3].

See also

• Hominids
• List of fossil sites
• Lee Berger
• Cradle of Humankind
• Paranthropus robustus

Gallery

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)   Coopers A viewed from the West   Coopers D from the East   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   Megantereon jaw (A type of sabre-toothed cat) from Cooper's

References

1. ^ Hilton-Barber. B and Berger, L.R (2003). Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind. Struik. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Berger et al. (2003). S. Afr. J. Sci.. 
3. ^ Berger et al. (1993). S. Afr. J. Sci.. 

External links

• Prof. Lee Berger: Coopers Cave