A Search for Origins: Science, History and South Africa's 'Cradle of Humankind'

Description

The 'Cradle of Humankind' (COH), bordering Gauteng and the North-West Province, was declared a World Heritage Site for the wealth of the human and animal fossils found there. Research based on fossils found in the area as well as signs of early human habitation have shed new light on the evolution of humankind and on the significant role that southern Africa played in the development of modern humans. A Search for Origins aims to provide an overview of the history of the COH, and of the important discoveries that have been made there, for a non-specialist audience. A number of general accounts have been written which have concentrated on the palaeontological discoveries made there. No systematic account written by specialists in their disciplines has, however, been published about the wider history of the COH and surrounding areas. In particular, no overview spanning the evolution of early plant and animal life, human development and recent and colonial history as reflected in discoveries linked to the COH, has been attempted. This edited volume frames the scientific advances that have been made in the COH against the intellectual and political background out of which they emerged. The multi-disciplinary approach - from a wide range of specialists -is innovative and ground-breaking. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Foreword Part 1 Introduction: Africa is seldom what it seems Chapter 1. White South Africa and the South Africanisation of science: Humankind or kinds of humans? Part 2 Introduction: Fossils and genes: A new anthropology of evolution Chapter 2. A history of South African palaeoanthropology Chapter 3. Fossil hominids of the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ Chapter 4. Unravelling the history of modern humans in southern Africa: The contribution of genetic studies Chapter 5. Fossil plants from the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ Part 3 Introduction: The Emerging Stone Age Chapter 6. The Earlier Stone Age Chapter 7. The Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age Chapter 8. Rock engravings in the Magaliesberg Valley Part 4 Introduction: The myth of the vacant land Chapter 9. The Early Iron Age at Broederstroom and around the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ Chapter 10. Tswana history in the Bankenveld Chapter 11. The early Boer republics: Changing political forces in the ‘Cradle of Humankind’, 1830s to 1890s Part 5 The racial paradox: Sterkfontein, Smuts and segregation Chapter 12. The legacy of gold Chapter 13. The story of Sterkfontein since 1895 Chapter 14. The SOUTH AFRICAN War OF 1899–1902 in the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ Chapter 15. White South Africa’s ‘weak sons’: Poor whites and the Hartbeespoort Dam Epilogue: Voice of politics, voice of science: Politics and science after 1945 Notes, references and recommended reading Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Index