February 27, 2004
By Lucille Davie
AT about the time the full skeleton of Little Foot is completely excavated at Sterkfontein in September 2005, the new Cradle of Humankind Interpretation Centre will be complete, ready to showcase one of the country's most extraordinary World Heritage Sites.
And, a major part of the project is to display some of the original fossils that have been found at this very sensitive site. Work on the site will begin in April.
The 47 000-hectare area (40 kilometres west of Johannesburg) with around 40 different fossil sites is where several of the world's most famous and important fossils have been discovered - Mrs Ples (now believed to be Master Ples), dating back 2.5-million years, and Little Foot, an almost complete ape-man skeleton 3.3-million years old. A further 500 hominid fossils and over 9 000 stone tools have been excavated in the area, and work is ongoing.
Three million years of human activity have taken place in and around these caves, including man's earliest-known mastery of fire. Forty percent of all the world's human ancestor fossils have been found here.
The R163-million private-public partnership project is due to begin in April, and take one and a half years to complete, by which time there'll be two visitors' sites, one at Sterkfontein and another at Mohale's Gate, eight kilometres apart. The experience at Sterkfontein will focus on the scientific aspect of the site, while Mohale's Gate will be a more hands-on, educational experience.
At present Sterkfontein has a small rather shabby museum and tearoom, clustered around the excavation site and entrance to the Sterkfontein cave, the most important cave of the cradle complex.
The partners in the new development are Furneaux Stewart GAPP Consortium, Wits University, and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs, which has provided the R163-million as a grant. The partners have signed a shareholding agreement, where each partner becomes a shareholder in the project while construction takes place, and as soon as the construction process is complete, the majority shareholding shifts to the operators. A similar arrangement was organised for the construction of visitors' centres at Robben Island and Cape Point.
GAPP Architects and Urban Designers, in association with MMA Architects, has been involved in the design of the Apartheid Museum, the domestic terminal at the Johannesburg International Airport, the Sandton Library, and the Grand Central Water Tower in Midrand.
Mohale's Gate
Mohale's Gate will be the hub of the cradle site, the anchor of the whole site, the cultural and corporate event site for the area.
Mohale's Gate is situated some eight kilometres beyond the Sterkfontein cave. On the approach to the site, seven impressive 20m tall concrete monoliths will become visible. It is hoped they will provide "a timelessness and futuristic element in one", says Chris Kroese, director of GAPP.
Looking up the hill, visitors will notice ancient rocky outcrops, setting the scene for a huge burial mound, referred to as a "tumulus", a partly-disguised grassy mound 20m in height and 35m in diameter, in a teardrop shape.
Sketches of the tumulus
Although the tumulus is grassed it is clearly discernible as a man-made structure, on an axis with the entrance to the site. It is to be constructed of steel, glass and concrete.
The significance of the tumulus is to pay homage to the "spirituality of burial" of past societies in the area. Once visitors have parked, they will enter the tumulus through a kiosk, shops and stalls, set in "circular square" or pre-space.
The tumulus consists of four storeys with the basement level consisting of an underground lake, which visitors can explore by means of explorers' boats on a delineated path, moving through a time line. Kroese describes this experience as being filled with "moments of wonder, excitement and terror". The centre of the lake will be the "spiritual heart" of the whole space, consisting of a misty epicentre, with eight double columns rising up into the other levels.
From the underground lake visitors will enter a square tube cave, moving out from the teardrop structure, gently curved around, taking a 150m long walk through another time line.
Here the piece de resistance will be displayed - the original Mrs Ples fossil.
Other "stars of the show", original hominid fossils, will be on display, with a cast of Little Foot also available for viewing sometime in the future.
On exiting the cave, visitors can take in the spectacular view of the Magaliesberg. Picnic spots will be created, and food baskets can be purchased at a food outlet.
The cave is designed to resemble a spine, with vertebrae protruding above ground, becoming the focus of the walk back to the building. They'll "make interesting shapes, like tombstones, and visitors will engage the building on a completely different level when walking over it", says Kroese.
The rest of the building will consist of a conference centre, offices, a 5-star restaurant and observation deck, affording visitors views of the surrounding site. West of the tumulus will be a 5-star hotel in the form of explorers' tents, consisting of 24 units. South east of the tumulus an amphitheatre for 5 000 people.
The building will offer interesting views, some only visible from certain angles or levels, some looking down into the building, others into the distance.
"The idea," says Kroese, "is to make every view an event."
Once this area has been explored, visitors will move on to the Sterkfontein site. Future plans are to build several satellite sites around the larger cradle interpretation centre area.
Sterkfontein cave
The present buildings alongside Sterkfontein are to be demolished and the new structure is to be located 250m from the cave, to preserve the sensitive area in the immediate vicinity of the cave, where excavations continue.
The visitors' site next to Sterkfontein will consist of a long, flat building, containing an auditorium, kiosk, coffee shop and a hominid exhibition hall with "highly interactive exhibits". Once visitors have taken in the exhibits and bought their tickets, they'll make their way to the cave where they will go on a half hour tour.
On leaving the cave, visitors will move through a natural amphitheatre, displaying a bust of Robert Broom, who in 1947 found the skull of Mrs Ples at Sterkfontein, then over to a platform positioned over the nearby excavation sites. Visitors then make their way back to the visitors centre and out to their cars.
The Sterkfontein visitors centre, like the tumulus interpretation centre, is to be signposted with a 20m tall concrete monolith.
The centre and the monolith will be positioned in one contour, and says Kroese, the building will be "plastered in natural colours and earthy materials", in keeping with the environment.
Wits University will be monitoring the construction process to ensure that there's no disturbance to the broader site.
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