The Faculty Working Group in Human Evolutionary Biology and Behavior is pleased to present:

“Recent Research on Australopithecus from South Africa’s Sterkfontein”

Speaker: Dominic Stratford, Coordinator of Research, Sterkfontein Paleoanthropologial Site; Department of
Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at University of the Witwatersrand

Abstract: The site of the Sterkfontein Cave of South Africa has yielded over 750 specimens of
Australopithecus and remains the world's most prolific Australopithecus locality. Within this
assemblage are some particularly remarkable finds that have inspired over seven decades of work at
the site. One such find is 'Little Foot', the most complete single Australopithecus skeleton ever
found. The palaeoanthropological impact of the enormous fossil assemblages from Sterkfontein has
been limited by problematic contextual and chronological control. The case of Little Foot epitomises
the situation. Here I present some of the most recent research being conducted at the site as we
work to draw some resolution from the complex cave contexts and the interred fossils.
Dominic Stratford, Coordinator of Research, Sterkfontein Paleoanthropologial Site; Department of
Geography, Archaeology