Abstract
The announcement of a fossilized child's skull discovered in a quarry in 1924 sub-Saharan Africa might not have seemed destined to be a classic paper. This contribution focuses on anatomist Raymond Dart's 1925 paper in which he designated the Taungs skull the type specimen of Australopithecus africanus. We combine an account of Dart's training and experience, with a telling of the fossil's discovery, analysis, the initial response of a mostly skeptical community, and a review of subsequent discoveries that consolidated the case Dart made for a hitherto unknown human close relative. Dart's paper presented evidence that confirmed the prescience of Charles Darwin's prediction that Africa was the birthplace of modern humans. The Taungs skull's unique mix of great ape and human attributes eventually led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of human evolution.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Evolutionary Anthropology |
| Vol/bind | 30 |
| Udgave nummer | 5 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 298-306 |
| Antal sider | 9 |
| ISSN | 1060-1538 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2021 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:We are grateful to Frederick Grine and Dean Falk for commenting on an earlier draft, to Jeremy DeSilva and an anoymous reviewer for their suggestions, and to Bill Kimbel for conversations about the Taung historical material overall. Rowan Sherwood helped gather references. Archival research at the Raymond Dart Papers was funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Center for Biology and Society at Arizona State University.
Publisher Copyright:
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