Slide 1Slide 2Slide 3Slide 4Slide 5Slide 6Slide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Slide 11SCANDALSAbout the earliest hominids,found ineast Africa and south AfricaThe first early hominid to be discoveredand described wasAustralopithecus africanus(3.2-2.3 mya)Described in 1925 by a young anatomistwho taught at university in South AfricaNo one believed him! WHY?Raymond DartAnatomist teaching inSouth AfricaStudent brought him a jawfrom a lime pit at TaungHe requested more material: www.talkorigins.orgBox of fossils arrived at his house on day of a formal event.In box he found endocast that fit into an embedded partial face.Took him 4 years to separate upper and lower jawsCould tell it was a hominid by the foramen magnum and teeth.He published in Nature on Feb. 7, 1925. A. africanusStorm of protestThe fossil he describedwas a child:Taung childAustralopithecus africanus3-6-year-old childJuvenile brain about405-410 cu cmEstimate adult brain of440 cu cmReconstruction of habitat where australopithecinesdeposited at the South African fossil localitiesOriginally limestonecavesPredator killedaustralopithecineand pulled bodyinto treeRotting parts felldown into shaftPresent-day surfacemarked dark brown(Turnbaugh et al. 2002:247)The Piltdown HoaxFor 20 years, Dart was discreditedWHY?Scientists thought the first human would have a big brainBut Australopithecus had a brain the size of an ape’s brainPrior to Dart’s announcement of earliest hominid,1911 Charles Dawson, an amateur geologist/antiquarian, found a skull and partial lower jaw in southern EnglandLarge brain, but jaw looked like apeEoanthropus dawsonii an overnight sensation:Accepted by leading British scientists as the missing linkAssociated with extinct rhino, mastodon, and hippoOther scientists outside of England more skepticalEarly 1950s finally did extensive analysisUsed fluorine dating: jaw younger than skull, both young. A FAKE! Adolescent orangutan jaw, teeth filed down andstained. The fossil mastodon was from North Africa, not EnglandWHO?Who perpetuated the hoax?At least 11 suspectsMoral to story:Good science does not ignore evidence basedon preconceptions of what “should
View Full Document
Unlocking...