Ancient and mysterious places in South Africa

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art

Drakensberg uKhahlamba Rock Art

Later Stone Age ~4000 BP–1800 CE · San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer

35,000 San paintings in 600 Drakensberg shelters - shamanic eland dance archive.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock shelter

Border Cave — Early Homo Sapiens Shelter

Middle to Later Stone Age (227–44 ka to Iron Age) · Early Homo sapiens → San foragers

Border Cave is the 50×35 m west-facing shelter 600 m on Lebombo crest 365 m from Eswatini border with 227–44 ka continuous stratigraphy spanning ESA to Iron Age and early Homo sapiens fossils BC 1…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Ancient city

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape

Early to Middle Iron Age (K2 culture 1000–1220; Mapungubwe phase 1220–1290 CE) · Gokomere-Zhizo / Kalanga-Shona precursor / Mapungubwe culture

Iron Age kingdom (900–1290 CE) on Shashe–Limpopo confluence, Mapungubwe was southern Africa's earliest class-stratified state: elite on Mapungubwe Hill, commoners at foot, gold working – famous gold…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock shelter

Diepkloof Rock Shelter — Engraved Ostrich Eggs

Middle Stone Age (130–45 ka, engraved eggs 60 ka) · Still Bay–Howiesons Poort Homo sapiens

Diepkloof Rock Shelter is the 25 m quartzite shelter above Verlorenvlei 15 km E of Elands Bay with 130–45 ka MSA stratigraphy and 270 fragments of engraved ostrich eggshell containers (60 ka…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Ancient city

Thulamela Stone Citadel Annex East — Southern Extension

Late Medieval (1400-1700 CE) · Thulamela

Thulamela Stone Citadel Annex East — Southern Extension in Limpopo, Kruger, South Africa is a Late Medieval (1400-1700 CE) ancient city attributed to Thulamela.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Pinnacle Point Caves — Early Modern Human Site

Middle Stone Age (164–50 ka) · Early Homo sapiens coastal foragers

Pinnacle Point is the 164,000–50,000 BP sea-cliff cave complex (PP13B, PP5-6) 12 km E of Mossel Bay where Marean found earliest heat-treated silcrete (72 ka), bladelet microliths, marine shellfish…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Blombos Cave — Middle Stone Age Ochre Workshop

Middle Stone Age (100–70 ka ochre horizon, Still Bay 75 ka) · Homo sapiens Middle Stone Age (Still Bay/Howiesons Poort)

Blombos Cave is the 34 m-apse calcarenite sea-cliff shelter 300 km E of Cape Town where Christopher Henshilwood found 100,000–70,000 BP ochre workshop and earliest abstract engravings.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Sterkfontein Caves — Cradle of Humankind

Pliocene-Pleistocene (3.67–0.8 Ma Member 2–5) · Australopithecus africanus / early Homo / Paranthropus

Sterkfontein is the dolomitic limestone cave system 40 km NW of Johannesburg that yielded >500 hominin fossils including Mrs Ples (Australopithecus africanus 2.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Earthwork

Bokoni Stone-Walled Terraces

Late Iron Age (1500–1820 CE; peak 1700–1820) · Eastern Sotho (Bokoni)

Bokoni (Koni) terraces in Mpumalanga escarpment are 150 ha dry-stone agricultural terraces 16th–19th c., built by Eastern Sotho Bokoni people on hillslopes with road causeways and stock kraal…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art

Drakensberg Main Caves Rock Art

Late Stone Age 3000 BCE–19th c. CE · San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer

uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Main Caves – 500+ San (Bushman) paintings in sandstone Game Pass Shelter: 35,000+ individual images (polychrome eland, therianthropes, Rosetta Panel).

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock shelter

Sibudu Cave — Middle Stone Age Rock Shelter

Middle Stone Age (77–38 ka) · Homo sapiens Still Bay–Howiesons Poort–Sibudan

Sibudu is the 55×18 m sandstone cliff shelter above Tongati River where Lyn Wadley found 77–38 ka MSA succession with earliest bow-and-arrow (64 ka quartz segments), earliest bedding (77 ka sedge…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art

Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art

Later Stone Age to Colonial ~8000 BP–19th c. · San ( ancestral Bushman) and Khoe

Kimberley andesite engravings with 1,500 eland-rhino figures and living San custodianship.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Klasies River Cave 1A Howiesons Poort Layer

Upper Palaeolithic (35000–12000 BP) · Upper Palaeolithic

Klasies River Cave 1A Howiesons Poort Layer in Eastern Cape, Klasies River, South Africa is a Upper Palaeolithic (35000–12000 BP) cave attributed to Upper Palaeolithic.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Wonderwerk Cave — Acheulean to Later Stone Age

Early Stone Age to Later Stone Age (2 Ma–14 ka) · Oldowan → Acheulean → MSA → LSA (Homo erectus to sapiens)

Wonderwerk Cave is the 140 m phreatic tube on Kuruman Hills with 2 Ma to 14 ka stratigraphy spanning Oldowan to Late Stone Age and earliest fire (1 Ma ash, burnt bone).

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Rising Star Cave — Homo Naledi Chamber

Middle Pleistocene (335–236 ka Homo naledi deposition) · Homo naledi (small brain 460 cc)

Rising Star Cave system (20–30 m dolomite horizon, 3 km passages) yielded 1,550+ Homo naledi fossils (15 individuals) in Dinaledi Chamber (2013) and Lesedi Chamber (2015) by Berger.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art

Cederberg Stadsaal Caves Rock Art

Late Stone Age 10,000 BCE–19th c. CE · San (Khoisan)

Cederberg Stadsaal – Cape Fold Mountains sandstone domes and caves with Late Stone Age San rock art in Stadsaal Caves (Elephant Processional panel, 500–1600 CE), Sevilla Trail 130-site route.

🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave

Klasies River Caves — Middle Stone Age Shelter

Middle Stone Age (120–55 ka) · Early Homo sapiens (MSA I–Howiesons Poort)

Klasies River Main site (KRM) is 5 caves/shelters on Tsitsikamma coast (34°06′29″S 24°23′24″E) with 120–55 ka MSA deposits containing anatomically modern human fossils (KRM 13400 mandible 115 ka),…

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Drakensberg uKhahlamba Rock Art

Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Southern Extension

Border Cave — Early Homo Sapiens Shelter

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape

Diepkloof Rock Shelter — Engraved Ostrich Eggs

Thulamela Stone Citadel Annex East — Southern Extension

Pinnacle Point Caves — Early Modern Human Site

Blombos Cave — Middle Stone Age Ochre Workshop

Sterkfontein Caves — Cradle of Humankind

Bokoni Stone-Walled Terraces

Drakensberg Main Caves Rock Art

Sibudu Cave — Middle Stone Age Rock Shelter

Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art

Klasies River Cave 1A Howiesons Poort Layer

Wonderwerk Cave — Acheulean to Later Stone Age

Rising Star Cave — Homo Naledi Chamber

Cederberg Stadsaal Caves Rock Art

Klasies River Caves — Middle Stone Age Shelter

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18 places