Dart Discovers the First Recognized Australopithecine Fossil
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Science and Technology Series
- Categories: Science, Social Science, Archaeology
- Subcategories: Scientists, Anthropology, Anthropologists, Natural History
- Curriculum: Australian/New Zealand History, African History
- Geographical Location: South Africa
- Date: Summer, 1924
Article abstract: Dart discovered the first Australopithecine, or the link between ape and man, cast in limestone recovered from a quarry in Taung, South Africa.
Summary of Event
In 1871, Charles Darwin suggested in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex that because living mammals in various regions of the world exhibit similarities to the extinct ones of the same region, it was quite likely that Africa would prove to be the continent where humankind first appeared. This notion was based on the idea that the gorilla and chimpanzee of...
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