The discovery of the Taung Child in 1924 by a quarryman at the Buxton lime works near the town of Taung in the Northern Cape Province marked the beginning of palaeoanthropology in Africa.

The face and cranial cast were sent to Dr. Raymond Dart, a professor of anatomy at the University of the Witwatersrand. He immediately recognized the fossil as being a creature on the long walk to humanity.

The position of the foramen magnum (where the spinal column enters the brain) indicated the creature was bipedal (walked upright on two legs). Its facial features and teeth were more refined than that of a chimpanzee and its’ brain capacity was larger than that of a chimpanzee of similar age.

Dart published his findings in the journal Nature in 1925. He classified the species as Australopithecus africanus (Southern ape-man of Africa). His findings were roundly rejected by European anthropologists as they had been taken in by the Piltdown Man hoax and were expecting a large brain and an ape-like jaw. Dart had shown the reverse.

Additionally, accepted science at the time held that humans had evolved in south-east Asia or in southeastern Europe as evidenced by fossils of Homo erectus found in Java and near the Georgian town of Dmanisi. Besides, at the time, it was unthinkable that humans could have evolved in Africa!

Only a few scientists recognized what Dart had discovered. It was 12 years later in 1936, that Dr. Robert Broom went to Gladysvale Cave to search for the fabled ‘skull in the wall’. He didn’t find anything and turned his attention to the Sterkfontein Caves. Almost immediately, he started finding homonid fossils in the lime miners discard piles.

The lime miners discarded the breccia (Italian for concrete) as they only wanted the white lime. But the breccia contained the fossils. Then in 1947 he unearthed the complete skull of Mrs. Ples. So called, because Broom classified the fossil as Plesianthropus transvaalensis (Near ape-man of the Transvaal). He also posited that it was probably a female. The Star newspaper ran with the story and nicknamed the fossil Mrs. Ples. Scientists were now paying attention – these fossils were clearly older than Homo erectus and there were not just a few, there were many.

The following year, in 1948, the National Party came to power. They did not believe in evolution and were not inclined to support, let alone fund, a field of science that might prove our common African origins as they set about legislating Apartheid which would separate South Africans on the basis of race.

Attention then turned towards East Africa to the discoveries of Don Johanssen and the Leakeys. With discoveries like Lucy, Turkana boy and Paranthropus boisei, scientists were then of the view that the critical junctures in human evolution happened in East Africa and not in South Africa.

It was only after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 that the science could emerge from its’ hibernation. Lee Berger, who has a geological background too, left East Africa and came to research in South Africa – he knew that the dolomitic caves of what is now the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site were treasure troves for fossils.

You can visit active dig sites in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site – contact info@aah-afrika.co.za