the cradle of humankind

I saw first hand the fruits of humans being kind on our way to the Cradle of Humankind.  Emmy and Ansel laughed, hugged, and played cards on the 2 hour drive from Johannesburg.   I had to capture the way his arms were wrapped around her waist.

The Cradle of Humankind is a place of major significance. It was here we first became human. Here where we first stood upright on our own two, rather oddly shaped, feet, explored the uses to which we could put our usefully opposed thumbs, and experimented with more and more sophisticated grunts as we tried to make sense of our environment. Its also the place where 1.8 million years ago we first "domesticated" fire.     Little Foot is a child fossil over 3 million years' old. The poor child fell through a hole in the roof of the caves, died and was fossilized to be found in the present day. Thousands of other hominid and animal fossils have been found here, and the caves and museum are fascinating to see.  We had a guide that was both hilarious and informative.   I mentioned in an earlier post that their is a certain heartbeat that I feel here in Africa.....as if this is where the blood is recycled and sent to the rest of the world.  This is the place that we first became human.   It is a strong presence.  I was so excited to be here.   

Some tight spots.  Duane (Corey's Dad overcame his paralyzing fear of caves and came with us, never evening fainting once that I was aware of.)

. A bronze statue of Robert Bloom, the man who discovered the Australophiticus Africanus, is located towards the end of the tour. It is said that touching his nose will make you smarter.  I can't remember what you were supposed to touch to make you wiser.  I must have touched that part because I am definitely NOT smarter.

I'm not sure that we have evolved all that much

On our way home, we were stopped by a strike in the middle of the freeway.  Cars were just stopped while people danced, drank and jumped on cars.   There was litter everywhere.  Initially, it was exciting to be a part of the political process of expressing dismay through party.  It soon became scary as we could see that people were becoming more intoxicated and seemingly a little more angry.

Have we come all that far in the past 3 million years?