The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

The Vredefort Structure can be considered to be a gigantic scar that was left behind when a huge meteor (estimated size 10km diameter) collided with the earth about 2023 million years ago. The impact site, in modern day terms, would be some odd tens of kilometres south of Parys.  The collision, at an estimated speed of 150 000 k/h, took place on an ancient surface about 17 km higher than the mentioned modern-day target point. The reason for this was that at the time 17 km of layered sedimentary and volcanic formations were piled up upon what, in today’s terms, we refer to as the Parys granite. Although a crater with an estimated diameter in the order of 100 km and some odd tens of kilometres deep was formed on the ancient surface, it was destroyed by erosion over a period of millions of years.