Fossils may look to the untrained eye like an unremarkable set of sandy bones. But those bones can deepen or even rewrite our understanding of ancient history – and South Africa is a fossil treasure trove. Some of the country’s “treasures” have changed our own species’ family tree. These include the 1924 discovery of a juvenile skull dubbed the Taung Child and ascribed to a new hominin species called Australopithecus africanus, and the announcement in 2015 of a previously unknown hominin species, Homo naledi. Researchers have also learned a tremendous amount about the plants, animals and insects that populated ancient landscapes in what is today South Africa.
Then there’s ichnology: the study of ancient tracks and traces. The steps our human ancestors took; the paths forged by long-extinct elephant species; the patterns made on ancient dune surfaces – many of these are preserved today in those surfaces, known as aeolianites. South Africa’s Cape south coast has emerged as a global hotspot for all kinds of fossil tracks and traces.
