South Africa/NC: Kimberley – Big Hole

Big Hole is by far the main attraction in Kimberly – an enormous hand-dug diamond mine excavation site, created during the late 19th-century diamond rush. It is considered the largest hand-dug excavation in the world, measuring 240 m (790 ft) deep and 463 m (1,519 ft) in diameter. In 1871, diamonds were discovered on a hill that became known as Colesberg Kopje. Prospectors rushed to the site, which was eventually flattened into the massive hole as people dug and dug for diamonds – over 50,000 miners worked with shovels to extract diamonds, removing over 22 million tons of earth by hand! The hole yielded around 2,722 kg (6,000 lbs) of diamonds, including some of the most famous stones in history – Tiffany Yellow Diamond (287 carats), De Beers Diamond (428 carats), Star of South Africa (81 carats).