Event information
An information centre with colourful displays introduces the rich history of Wonderwerk Cave. The cave is 139m deep and archaeologically of considerable importance. It is so big it used to be boasted that a wagon and team of oxen could turn around in the entrance.
This archaeological treasure preserves a record of human activity spanning almost two million years, and an international team, the Wonderwerk Cave Research Project, has been assembled to explore it.
The site has been studied and excavated by archaeologists since the 1940s and research here generates important insights into human history in the subcontinent of Southern Africa. Evidence within Wonderwerk cave has been called the oldest controlled fire.
It contains up to 6m depth of archaeological deposits reflecting human and environmental history through the Earlier, Middle and Later Stone Ages to the present. Rock art occurs in the form of parietal paintings within the first 40m from the entrance, possibly all less than 1000 years old, and small engraved stones found within the deposit, mainly from the Later Stone Age sequence where they date back some 10,500 years.
Accumulated deposits inside the cave, up to 7m in depth, reflect natural sedimentation processes such as water and wind deposition as well as the activities of animals, birds and human ancestors over a period of some two million years. Explore its depths with an experienced guide.
