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世界遗产档案
汤恩头骨化石遗址是该遗址的扩展项目，1924年在这里发现了非洲南方古猿的一种——举世闻名的汤恩人猿的头骨。麦卡潘山谷也是遗迹的一部分，山谷中有许多考古洞穴，人类在此居住和进化的历史可以追溯到330万年前。这里有能够确定人类起源和进化的重要线索。在此发现的化石确定了早期原始人类的一些标本，尤其是距今450万至250万年前的南方古猿的标本，以及180万至100万年前人类使用火的证据。这是1999年列入《世界遗产名录》的该遗址的扩展项目。
UNESCO 官方中文展开英文原文
The Taung Skull Fossil Site, part of the extension to the site inscribed in 1999, is the place where in 1924 the celebrated Taung Skull – a specimen of the species Australopithecus africanus – was found. Makapan Valley, also in the site, features in its many archaeological caves traces of human occupation and evolution dating back some 3.3 million years. The area contains essential elements that define the origin and evolution of humanity. Fossils found there have enabled the identification of several specimens of early hominids, more particularly of Paranthropus, dating back between 4.5 million and 2.5 million years, as well as evidence of the domestication of fire 1.8 million to 1 million years ago.