Classwork

1. When Raymond Dart discovered the Taung Child, Australopithecus Africanus, how
was he convinced that it was a human ancestor? What mistakes did he make when
attempting to prove this to other paleoanthropologists? It has often been said that
Dart attempted to do this at the wrong time in the wrong place. How would this
explain his failure to convince the scientific world that he had discovered the oldest
human ancestor? Consider where the Taung Child was found and also keep in mind
other paleoanthropological discoveries occurring at the same time. Additionally, keep
in mind the Zeitgeist. of the time; i.e., the way people thought in the early 1920s.