South Africa is home to some of the world's most fascinating and historically significant caves. Among them, the Cango Caves and Blombos Cave stand out as remarkable examples of natural beauty and archaeological importance. These caves offer a glimpse into the past, revealing insights into human history and the geological processes that have shaped our planet.
Entrance to the Cango Caves
Cango Caves: A Subterranean Marvel
The Cango Caves are a collection of limestone caves located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. They lie about 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Oudtshoorn, in the foothills of the Swartberg mountain range. The complex of caves is regarded as one of the world’s great natural wonders.
Location and Formation
The Cango Caves are located in Precambrian limestones at the foothills of the Swartberg range near the town of Oudtshoorn, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The caves were formed by natural processes over millions of years. Rainwater flowed through small cracks in the limestone rock of the area. The limestone dissolved in the water as it flowed out, causing spaces to appear. The spaces became caves as the process continued.
Minerals were left behind as the water flowed out. The minerals formed stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites hang from the roof and stalagmites rise from the floor. Eventually a large system of tunnels and chambers was created.
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Rediscovery and Exploration
A local farmer named Jacobus Van Zyl rediscovered the caves in 1780. The chamber he first was lowered down into was found to be as long as a football field, and is named Van Zyl Hall in his honor. Further exploration was done and a second chamber discovered in 1792.
People have been mapping and exploring the Cango Caves for many years. The first rough map was made in 1897, which showed the first 26 rooms. In 1956, a group called the South African Spelaeological Association made a more accurate map. Their maps showed that the first part, called Cango I, was 775 meters (about 2,540 feet) long and did not go up or down much, only about 16 meters (about 52 feet).
In 1972, explorers James Craig-Smith, Luther Terblanche, and Dart Ruiters made a big discovery. They widened a blocked passage, which led them to Cango II. At the end of Cango II, there was a 20-meter (about 65-foot) shaft that led to a room filled with water. In 1975, a team drained most of the water from this room, and they crawled through what was once an underwater passage. This led them to discover even more caves, called Cango III. These new caves are about 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet) long. More parts of Cango III were found in 1977 and 1978.
Historical Significance
There are signs that people have known about the caves for much longer, however. Groups of Khoekhoe and San people may have lived in the caves thousands of years ago. Ancient cave paintings and tools show that humans lived here.
In 1930, an archaeologist named A.J.H. Goodwin studied the caves and found old stone tools and other items.
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The Cango Caves Ordinance of 1971
The Cango Caves Ordinance of 1971 gave certain legal powers over the caves to what was then the Administrator of the Cape; legally, these same powers now devolve to the local government members of the executive.
Stories and Legends
One famous story is about Johnny van Wassenaer. In 1898, he supposedly walked for 29 hours inside the caves, trying to find the very end. He believed he was 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) from the entrance and 275 meters (about 900 feet) underground. His path may have followed an underground river.
Visiting the Cango Caves
The principal cave is one of the country's finest, best known, and most popular tourist caves and attracts many visitors from overseas. Tourists began visiting the Cango Caves soon after the caves were discovered. They were declared a national monument in 1938.
Tours are conducted at regular intervals on most days.
- Standard Tour: This tour takes about an hour.
- Adventure Tour: This tour takes about an hour and a half and is more exciting! You will crawl through narrow passages and climb up steep rock formations. Guides use small lights to lead the way.
Both tours let you see the beautiful natural formations inside the caves. A full tour includes passage through such fancifully named chambers as King Solomon’s Mines, the Throne Room, the Fairyland Chamber, and the Devil’s Workshop.
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The most significant discoveries at Cango Caves were made by its first full-time guide, Johnnie van Wassenaar, who served as a guide for 43 years. Van Wassenaar opened many side chambers and introduced thousands of people to the world-famous caves.
Over the years, more and more chambers and tunnels have been discovered. Altogether, the Cango Caves are estimated to be about 1 000 metres long. The biggest chamber stretches some 300 metres.
The great caverns were created by water that flowed through fissures in the Precambrian limestone and seeped through cracks in the earth’s face. The water scoured and dissolved the rock and limestone to create one of the great natural wonders of the world.
To begin with, only about one kilometre of the vast cave system was accessible to explore. It’s now known that the Cango Caves extends for well over 5 kilometres and could be even bigger than that. About a quarter of the cave system is open to visitors, the rest is closed for conservation.
Cango I, II, and III
The Cango Caves are divided into three main sections:
- Cango I: The first survey was done in 1897 and mapped out the first 26 chambers. The results indicated the caves were 775 metres long in a single line. Cango I is the only part of the Cango Caves that is open to the public. The nearest point to the surface is at the top of the shaft in what is called the Devil’s Kitchen.
- Cango II: Cango II was discovered in 1972. It stretches 279 metres beyond the end of the Devil’s Kitchen and ends with a shaft that drops 20 metres into a chamber filled with water. The water flows in the direction of Cango I.
- Cango III: Cango III was discovered in 1975 when an exploration team drained the Cango II chamber of most of its water.
Here is a summary of the key facts about the Cango Caves:
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Foothills of the Swartberg range, near Oudtshoorn, Western Cape Province, South Africa |
| Rediscovery | 1780 by Jacobus Van Zyl |
| Van Zyl’s Hall | Is over 70 metres long, 35 metres wide and reaches a height of 17 metres |
| Formation | Limestone caves formed by water erosion over millions of years |
| Length | Extends over 5 kilometers, with about a quarter open to visitors |
| Tours | Standard Tour (1 hour) and Adventure Tour (1.5 hours) |
Why you must visit the LARGEST CAVES in Africa! - CANGO CAVES, What to see Oudtshoorn South Africa.
Blombos Cave: A Window into Early Human Behavior
Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c.
Blombos Cave Excavation Site in South Africa
Excavation and Research
Blombos Cave was first excavated in 1991-1992 as a part of Professor Christopher S. Henshilwood's (1995) doctoral thesis. From the initial excavations conducted in the early 1990s, the Blombos Cave project has adopted and established new and innovative research agendas in the study of southern African prehistory. While Henshilwood's initial, doctoral research was directed towards the more recent Later Stone Age occupation levels, the focus since 1997 has been on the Middle Stone Age sequence.
The excavations at Blombos Cave have yielded important new information on the behavioural evolution of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological record from this cave site has been central in the ongoing debate on the cognitive and cultural origin of early humans and to the current understanding of when and where key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens in southern Africa during the Late Pleistocene.
Cave Structure and Environment
The cave is in a south-facing cliff face 34.5 meters above sea level, ca. 100 meters from the present-day shoreline. The interior of Blombos Cave consists of a single main chamber, and the entire (accessible) interior cave floor is about 39 m2 behind the drip line.
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) rich ground water seeps in from the cave roof and percolates through the interior sediments, resulting in an alkaline environment with good preservation conditions. The excavated Middle Stone Age deposit in Blombos Cave consists of aeolian (wind-borne) dune sand, blown in through the cave entrance, and roof spall from the cave ceiling.
Occupational History
Humans have briefly and sporadically occupied Blombos Cave throughout the Middle Stone Age (101,000-70,000 years BP) and in the latter parts of the Later Stone Age (2,000-300 years BP). The occupational hiatus between ca. 68,000 and 2,000 years BP, combined with the geological evidence, indicates that the cave site was sealed off by aeolian sand during this period.
The Later Stone Age sequence has been radiocarbon dated to 2000-290 years BP, while the Middle Stone Age sequence is dated to ca.
Key Discoveries
The archaeological material and faunal remains recovered from the Middle Stone Age phase in Blombos Cave - dated to ca. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c.
- Still Bay Points: Since the excavation in Blombos Cave began, more than 500 points or point fragments have been recovered, of which 352 have been described in detail. The Still Bay points from Blombos Cave represent some of the earliest evidence for pressure flaking, a technique more common in considerably more recent lithic techno-complexes.
- Oldest Known Drawing: In 2011, archeologists found small rock fragment among spear points and other excavated material. After extensive testing for seven years, it was revealed that the nine red lines drawn on the rock were handmade and from an ochre crayon dating back 73,000 years. It is claimed to be the "Oldest known drawing by human hands".
- Ochre Processing Workshop: In 2008 an ochre processing workshop consisting of two toolkits was uncovered in the 100,000-year-old levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Analysis shows that a liquefied pigment-rich mixture was produced and stored in the shells of two Haliotis midae (abalone), and that ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones, and hammer-stones also formed a composite part of the toolkits.
- Bone Tools: At Blombos Cave several bone tools, including awls and bone points, have been recovered from both the Later Stone Age and Middle Stone Age sequence. More than thirty bone tools, e.g. awls and polished bone points, have been attributed to the Still Bay units.
- Marine Shell Beads: More than 70 marine shell beads of the sea snail species Nassarius kraussianus have been found in the M1 and Upper M2 phases at Blombos Cave. The beads are exclusively confined to the Still Bay occupation units, and the majority have been found in the M1 phase.
The wearing and display of personal ornaments during the Still Bay phase was not idiosyncratic. In-depth analyses of the Blombos Cave shell beads deriving from various levels and squares within the site demonstrate chronological regularities and variability, in terms of manufacture, stringing method and design of the bead works.
Until recently, the first use of personal ornaments was thought to occur with the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe, some 40,000 years ago. Most academics now believe that marine shells were used as beads in the Near East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa at least 30,000 years earlier than their first use in Europe.
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