Editing History of South Africa (section)

===Prehistory===
{{further|People of Africa}}
Scientists researching the periods before written historical records were made have established that the territory of what is now referred to generically as South Africa was one of the important centers of [[human evolution]]. It was inhabited by [[Australopithecine]]s since at least 2.5 million years ago. [[Anatomically modern humans|Modern human]] settlement occurred around 125,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, as shown by archaeological discoveries at [[Klasies River Caves]].<ref>Bert Woodhouse, ''The Rock Art of the Golden Gate and Clarens Districts'', Johannesburg: Waterman 1996, p.34 – (citing report by Professor C van Riet Lowe and Dr D J H Visser, published in 1955 by government Department of Mines). {{ISBN|1 874959 31 5}}</ref> The first human habitation is associated with a DNA group originating in a northwestern area of southern Africa and still prevalent in the indigenous [[Khoisan]] ([[Khoi]] and [[San people|San]]). Southern Africa was later populated by [[Bantu peoples|Bantu-speaking people]] who [[Bantu expansion|migrated from the western region of central Africa]] during the early centuries AD.

Professor [[Raymond Dart]] discovered the skull of a 2.51 million year old [[Taung Child]] in 1924, the first example of ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'' ever found. Following in Dart's footsteps [[Robert Broom]] discovered a new much more robust hominid in 1938 ''[[Paranthropus robustus]]'' at [[Kromdraai]], and in 1947 uncovered several more examples of ''Australopithecus africanus'' at [[Sterkfontein]]. At the [[Blombos Cave|Blombos cave]] in 2002, stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago. This has been interpreted as the earliest example ever discovered of abstract art or symbolic art created by ''[[Homo sapiens]]''.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1753326.stm | work=BBC News | title='Oldest' prehistoric art unearthed | date=10 January 2002}}</ref>

Many more species of early hominid have come to light in recent decades. The oldest is [[Little Foot]], a collection of footbones of an unknown hominid between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, discovered at Sterkfontein by [[Ronald J. Clarke]]. An important recent find was that of 1.9 million year old ''[[Australopithecus sediba]]'', discovered in 2008. In 2015, the discovery near Johannesburg of a previously unknown species of ''Homo'' was announced, named ''[[Homo naledi]]''. It has been described as one of the most important paleontological discoveries in modern times.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150912185149/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-homo-naledi-human-ancestor-species-reaction-science/ ''National Geographic'', "New Human Ancestor Elicits Awe—and Many Questions"], 10 September 2015. Accessed 20 September 2015</ref>