Rock deposits in a cave system inhabited by early human ancestors in South Africa may be almost 2 million years younger than previously thought, a new study has found, which may cast doubt over whether humankind may have originated in the country.
The study, which used sediment analysis, palaeo-magnetism and uranium-lead dating, found deposits at Bolt’s Farm in the, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, to be between 1.7 million and 2.27 million years old.
Bolt’s Farm is a cave system located in the World Heritage site and is an important source of fossils of various species of Plio-Pleistocene fauna, including primates and big cats. It’s also home to a novel species of rat, Euryotomys bolti, found nowhere else.
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