HUMAN ORGANIC EVOLUTION: FACT OR FANCY? 



what degree, has to await further evidence. But what is extant 

 so far. strongly suggests that this period is critical, and 

 perhaps the recent Tuscany finds in Italy (not yet described 

 in the scientific literature) will greatly aid in deciphering this 

 riddle. 



As one leaves the pongidoid ancestry, one does not at the 

 same time leave the very important continent of Africa. Since 

 1925 fossils have been found which may well turn out to be 

 critical in understanding the development of organic forms 

 which lead to modern man. Professor R. A. Dart from 

 Johannesberg, South Africa, found a skull at Taung which 

 he called Australopithecus, or South African Man-Ape. ^^ 

 Since that time, Broom, Robinson and their collaborators 

 have found enough additional fragments which represent at 

 least sixty-five individuals and an extremely large number of 

 teeth from possibly another hundred individuals. These fossils 

 go under several generic names, but recent opinion'^ suggests 

 that we are dealing with one genus, and perhaps two species. 

 The important feature of the South African fossils are that 

 they are widespread in the region and that they are so 

 abundant; unfortunately they have not all been described yet. 



The dating for this area is not very secure, because it is 

 based upon faunal assemblages which have been correlated 

 with European assemblages of mid-pliocene age. On the other 

 hand, the fact is that mammals which became extinct in Europe 

 by Pleistocene times seem to have lasted longer in parts of 

 Africa. Hence great caution has to be exercised on this 

 account. Most authorities seem to place the fossil materials 

 in the early part of the lower Pleistocene. One thing seems 

 to be certain from the faunal assemblage, that the environment 

 was not unlike it is today, i.e., tended towards aridity, and 

 hence was not conducive to arboreal life. 



The Australopithecine fossils as a group, though showing 

 great variability in size, (due in part to the fact that some 

 skulls are from immature individuals), show some striking 

 hominid features, but also some important simian features. 



*^^ Raymond A. Dart, "The Minimal Bone-Breccia Content of Maga- 

 panskat and the Australopithecine Predatory Habit," American Anthro- 

 pologist, 1958, vol. 60. no. 5, pp. 923^931. 



' See Clark, op. cit.. pp. 113^160. 



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