Why the ‘missing link’ fossil was almost missed

Dart was interested in collecting a collection of fossils at the university. After confronting anatomists working on fossil human ancestors while studying in London, Dart was particularly excited about this primate skull because it was located where it was found.

The presence of such a relative in South Africa meant, Dart thought, that a “fairly complete story” of primate evolution “could still be extracted from our rocks.” So he turned his attention to the location of the skull’s discovery, a mine near the village of Taungs, South Africa. Wondering if other interesting fossils might emerge, Dart asked the mine manager to collect more specimens. As luck would have it, within weeks quarry workers came across another skull that subsequently ended up in Dart’s hands.

This skull was partially encased in limestone, but Dart carefully dislodged it – using his wife’s sharpened knitting needles – to extract it. What emerged was a strikingly human-looking individual. It was the entire face and jaw of a small child, along with a natural cast of the brain cavity. The endocast perfectly retained the shape of the brain on one side, while the other side was covered with ‘picturesque’, sparkling rock crystals.

(Where in Africa is the birthplace of humanity?)

Wrong place, wrong time

The fossil, nicknamed the Taung Child after the nearby village, had numerous features indicating it was a human ancestor. Dart noted that the forehead “rises steadily” from the eye orbits in an “amazingly human way.” And the small canines were embedded in a slender jaw – also human qualities. The presence of the Taung child, Dart argued, supported Darwin’s overlooked idea and revealed Africa as the “cradle” of humanity.

While evolution had become accepted in scientific circles by the 1920s, scientific racism largely prevented Darwin’s hypothesis about humanity’s African origins from taking hold. “The general idea at the time was that Africa was a bit backward,” says anthropologist and National Geographic explorer Keneiloe Molopyane. “So why would you find human origins in such a place?”