Archaeology Tour: Description

Peel away the patina of time when visiting landmark sites in ruggedly beautiful South African landscapes. Follow the footsteps of the earliest of humans while travelling in the company of informative experts.

In the Cape trace the artistic legacy of the San / Bushmen, an ancient hunter-gatherer people in their evocative rock art paintings. Walk around pristine sites, some dating back 10,000 years, and find out how they survived for thousands of years until the arrival of the colonisers.

In the Winelands uncover the impact of colonisation and its legacies. Explore 8,000 years of history and archaeology in a window-in-time museum housed in a 1740 wine cellar. Wander around the country’s premier wine estate and in contemporary gardens landscaped on the Dutch East India Company’s original template for its ”Halfway House”.

On the way to Bushmans Kloof, a refuge renowned for its unparalleled rock art displays, gain insight into the San / Bushmen heritage and folklore from cultural interpreters who share their tracking skills, hunting methods and botanical know how; see where ‘Eve’ left her footprints in the sand some 117, 000 year ago; visit a site that contains the greatest diversity of five-million year old fossils in the world; and hear about shore line excavations that have revealed significant artefacts left by Middle and Late Stone Age inhabitants.

In Johannesburg examine recent archaeological fossil finds that unlock our understanding of the genus Homo and his transition from pre-human to human made by headline-capturing palaeo-anthropologists. Visit a scene-setting museum that unravels where and when things began and tracks man’s origins and journey out of Africa.

In the Cradle of Humankind  explore an active dig in this World Heritage site that has enabled man to decode the span of evolution that stretches back some 3.5 million years. Contemplate the evidence that mankind’s African ancestors were using skills more advanced than mere stone tool-making some forty thousand years before Homo sapiens in Europe started decorating cave walls in France and Spain. Celebrate your last night under African skies reflecting on the words of Pliny ‘’Out of Africa ~ Always Something New’’.

Opt to visit Pinnacle Point caves near Mossel Bay that reveal the earliest evidence for modern human behaviour, guided by the archaeologist who discovered them.
Or else, take a safari to Bostwana, for insights into the fast vanishing way of life of the Kalahari Bushmen, engaging with trackers as they offer a window into the past while sharing their ancient knowledge and survival skills.