ABSTRACT
I n 1997 I was finishing my undergraduate degree in archaeological science and was invited to work on the early hominin-bearing sites (hominin refers to fossils on the human evolutionary line) of South Africa for the first time. Drawn by the desire to answer the question, “where do we come from?,” I was eager to explore the series of extremely ancient caves found at Makapansgat. These caves in the interior of 18southern Africa chart the evolution of the early human lineage and contain hints of the lives of species important for our understanding of the transition from more apelike hominins (Australopithecus) to members of our own genus, Homo (our species being Homo sapiens).
