#australopithecus africanus

Taung Child

Artwork by Julio Lacerda / @paleoart

A 2.3 milliion years old hominin child skull was discovered with damages around the eye sockets. The child, estimated to be around six years old at death, was likely killed by a large predatory bird like an eagle.

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Humans' distant ancestor Australopithecus africanus had a unique approach to raising their young, as shown in our new research published today in Nature.

Geochemical analysis of four teeth shows they exclusively breastfed infants for about 6-9 months, before supplementing breast milk with varying amounts of solid food until they were 5-6 years old. The balance between milk and solid food in this period varied cyclically, probably in response to seasonal changes in food availability.

The Remarkable Discovery of the Taung Child On a remarkable day in the summer of 1924, an anthropologist named Raymond Dart made a groundbreaking discovery that would shape our understanding of human evolution for decades to come. While examining a collection of fossils uncovered by miners in the vicinity of Taung, South Africa, Dart stumbled upon the skull of what he believed to be a pivotal…

İnsanlık Tarihi 1 Milyon Yıl Önceye Gitti

İnsanlık Tarihi 1 Milyon Yıl Önceye Gitti Güney Afrika’daki Sterkfontein’deki en zengin hominin içeren yataktan elde edilen Australopithecus fosilleri, bazılarının daha önce öne sürdüğünden çok daha eski bir tarihlidir. Doğu Afrika’daki Australopithecus afarensis ile aynı çağda yaşamıştır. Tarihlerimiz, Sterkfontein’de iyi bir şekilde temsil edilen Australopithecus africanus‘un, A. afarensis‘ten…

NUOVE DATAZIONI PER L’AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFRICANUS

Le nuove datazioni per il deposito proveniente dalla Grotta di Sterkfontein, in Sudafrica, culla del più antico Australopithecus Africanus, collocano i fossili di ominidi sudafricani al centro della paleoricerca globale. I fossili trovati nelle Grotte di Sterkfontein rivelano quasi quattro milioni di anni di ominidi e di evoluzione ambientale. Da quando la ricerca è iniziata nel sito, nel 1936,…