Fifth Gondwana coin minted
2001-03-22 15:47
Johannesburg - The South African Mint on Thursday launched the fifth palaeontological series of the coin, Gondwana, during the official
opening of the Sterkfontein Heritage Lodge in Krugersdorp, west of
Johannesburg.
The Gondwana R2 coin was produced to highlight Southern Africa's remarkable palaeontological and geological heritage.
It is a 24-carat gold coin manufactured from gold extracted from South African rocks which were more than two billion years old.
Named after an Indian region - Gondwana, the theme related to a continental landmass which existed approximately 200 million years ago, when Africa was joined to South America, Australia, Antarctica and India.
The coin depicted the start of the continental drift of Gondwana and also portrays euphrkeri, an archosaur (a reptile of a large group including the crocodilians, together with the extinct
dinosaurs and pterosaurs), belonging to the ancestral group of
animals from which dinosaurs and bears evolved.
Euphrkeri was known from fossils discovered in South Africa and described by Dr Robert Broom. - Sapa
- SAPA