Melkhoutboom Cave, Archaeological cave in Zuurberg Mountains, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Melkhoutboom Cave is a natural cave in the Zuurberg Mountains with an entrance about 14 meters wide. The space extends roughly 14 meters deep into the rock and has a rounded roof overhead.
The cave was explored in the 1930s by John Hewitt, director of the Albany Museum, and identified as an important Late Stone Age site. This work revealed that people lived here around 15,400 years ago.
The cave holds clues about how people lived here long ago and what plants they gathered for food. These remains help us understand the daily life of the people who sheltered in this space.
The cave sits roughly 80 kilometers north of Port Elizabeth in a steep mountain area. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes and take care, as the terrain is rugged and sloped.
The cave is known for exceptionally preserved plant remains that show what people ate thousands of years ago. Such organic finds are rarely kept in such complete condition at other archaeological sites.
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