6o evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



ilarities than appear in adults, Dart's claim was not sup- 

 ported by the evidence. Robert Broom studied the skull at 

 firsthand and came to the conclusion that it was one of the 

 most important fossil finds ever made— a real "missing link." 

 The discussion went on for years and would still be going 

 on except that, beginning in 1936, Broom and his assistants 

 began to unearth in the same region of South Africa fossil 

 after fossil of these man-apes (male and female adults). 

 Dart had called his find Australopithecus africanus (south- 

 ern ape of Africa) . Broom had not only found more fossils 

 of this type but also discovered two more similar forms 

 which he called Fie sianthr opus (close to man) and Paran- 

 thropus (man-like). All three of these man-apes have been 

 placed in a family now called the Australopithecines. 



The Taungs region of Africa is an area of limestone caves, 

 and these apes were using the caves for shelter some 1,000- 

 000 years ago. In skeletal structure, except for the head, they 

 are close to man. In this remarkable series of fossils are bones 

 of the hip complex which show that these apes walked erect 

 with their hands free. They had the bodies of man, although 

 smaller, and the heads of apes. The teeth are quite like those 

 in man, even to the canines which are so pronounced in the 

 modern apes. They seem to have had diet preferences sim- 

 ilar to man's, being partly carnivorous. Only the brain was 

 lagging behind, another of the many examples of the un- 

 evenness of evolution. The brain capacity is well below the 

 lowest level of even the most primitive pre-man. It is above 

 that of modern apes; and the frontal region, which in mod- 

 em man is concerned with the powers of memory and 

 reason, is better developed. Furthermore, although small, 

 the brain is encased in a skull showing characteristics dis- 

 tinctly similar to those of primitive man, such as the Rhode- 

 sian man. 



As the case stands at present these higher primates were 

 near-human, except for their small brains. They ran on 

 their hind feet and probably used unfashioned stick and 



