Cooper's Cave

Cooper's Cave is a series of fossil-bearing breccia filled cavities. The cave is located almost exactly between the well known South African hominid-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Kromdraai and about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa and has been declared a National [heritage sites (South Africa)|South African National Heritage Site].

History of investigations

Cooper's Cave is now recognised as the fifth richest hominid site in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and one of the richest sites for early hominid stone tools of the Developed Olduwan culture. Excavations are still underway at Cooper's and are currently being directed by Christine Steininger and Lee Berger of the Institute for Human Evolution and 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.

Geology

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

Age of the deposits

Cooper's D has been dated by uranium-lead methods to between 1.5 and 1.4 million years ago. Cooper's A, based on the animals recovered, is thought to be about the same age.