Haasgat is a fossil-bearing cave located in the Cradle of Humankind

Cradle of Humankind

The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies ; it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million...

 UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage Area about 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) Northeast of the well known South African hominin-bearing sites of Sterkfontein

Sterkfontein

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 and Swartkrans

Swartkrans

Swartkrans is a location in South Africa, around from Johannesburg.Swartkrans is a farm near to Sterkfontein, notable for being extremely rich in archaeological material, particularly hominid remains. It was purchased by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1968...

 and about 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) North-Northwest of the City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa. It is located on private land and cannot be visited by the public. The site contains a high number of non-hominin primate fossils.

History of investigations

The site was first investigated by Andre Keyser who sampled a number of lime miners dumps of ex-situ fossil bearing breccia in the late 80s and early 90s. A new series of studies including in-situ excavations have been undertaken by Stephanie Potze of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Justin Adams of Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...

 in the US and Andy Herries of La Trobe University

La Trobe University

La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...

 in Australia and funded by the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

.