Property: The Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs
Id. N°: 915
State Party: South Africa
Criteria: C (iii) (vi)
The Committee inscribed this property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (iii) and (vi):
Criteria (iii) and (vi): The Sterkfontein area contains an exceptionally large and scientifically significant group of sites which throw light on the earliest ancestors of humankind. They constitute a vast reserve of scientific information, the potential of which is enormous.
In response to the Delegate of Thailand, ICOMOS indicated that criterion (vi) was proposed due to the importance of the site for the history of humankind, like the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian (China) and the Sangiran Early Man Site (Indonesia).