Basil Cooke's contributions to our understanding of South African cave deposits and fossil fauna

Abstract

Throughout his career, Basil Cooke has been a very competent hard-rock geologist, but in his research he has concentrated on the relatively recent ‘overburden’, particularly a study of animal fossils that might be preserved in it, and information they can provide about the past environment of the time. Over 100 publications, from the first one in 1938 describing the Sterkfontein Cave deposits, to his most recent paper (Cooke, 2006) on East African fossil pigs, have demonstrated Cooke's dedication to this discipline and his meticulous attention to detail. His contribution to our understanding of faunal and environmental changes in Africa during the last five million years has been enormous.