Although the palaeoanthropological significance of the Sterkfontein Caves was first highlighted in 1936 with Robert Broom’s discovery of the first adult Australopithecus (Broom, 1936), 30 years were to pass before a programme of continuous systematic excavation would be initiated by Phillip.V. Tobias and Alun R. Hughes. The year 2006 marked the 70th anniversary of Broom’s important discovery and also the 40th year of full-time excavation at Sterkfontein. The past 40 years of work at Sterkfontein have opened many doors to research opportunities in the fields of cave and site formation, stratigraphy, dating, faunal analysis, taphonomy, palaeoecology, hominid evolution and cultural evolution. In addition to the numerous scientific publications that have appeared on these topics, there is also an invaluable record of this work in the annual reports produced by Tobias and his team in the School of Anatomical Sciences. The results bear testimony to the old Biblical adage ‘seek and ye shall find’ (Book of Luke, Chapter 11 verse 9). Tobias and Hughes sought to understand the extent of the breccias, to recover more fossils and artefacts, and to find methods of dating the deposits. They did indeed find what they were seeking. Furthermore we sought deeper deposits in Member 5 and recovered Oldowan artefacts, we sought early hominids in Silberberg Grotto and found the world’s only near-complete skeleton of Australopithecus, and we sought hominids in the Jacovec Cavern and found them. There is still much more to seek and to find at Sterkfontein and the next 40 years of research are full of promise.