The Graaff-Reinet and Nieu-Bethesda region is a mecca for palaeontologists.
The hills abound with stories of ancient life where mammal-like reptiles roamed on the floodplains of large rivers and in shallow lakes that, as happens today, dried up during periods of severe drought.
It is in the rocky pages of this history book that researchers like Dr David Groenewald (28) find evidence of life and death in the fossilised remains of the ancient animals that lived in the South African Karoo between 255 and 250 million years ago.
As a palaeontologist at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), David studies the history of life on earth using fossils – the remains of plants and animals that have been replaced by rock material or impressions of organisms preserved in the rock.
The ancient Karoo marshes covered an area from Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape all the way to Himeville and Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal where David recently spent a few weeks searching for fossils that prove the coexistence of similar animals over this entire stretch of land.
But why are ancient truths and secrets preserved in rock for millions of years relevant today, one may wonder.
“The Karoo is an underappreciated treasure trove of fossils – older than the dinosaurs – that reveal the origin story of mammals, and therefore of us,” David explains.
“It’s like being a detective, piecing together all the clues to figure out how these animals lived and died.”
While David was out in the field, his latest research paper was published in the African Earth Sciences Journal.
The paper looks at the transition from marine to fluvial deposition in the north of the Karoo Basin (Free State and KZN) and what fossils can be found in the rocks.
