An Australian anthropologist and anatomist, Raymond Arthur Dart is perhaps best known for the discovery of Australopithecus africanus in 1924. This extinct hominin was closely related to humans, and Dart used baboon skulls as weapons. While his findings were controversial, there are several important conclusions made by Dart that remain controversial today. Listed below are some of the main conclusions he came to.
Australopithecus africanus was a human ancestor
In 1925, South African anthropologist Raymond Dart named an extinct ape species as Australopithecus africanus. The species was known until the 1960s, and fossils from limestone caves in South Africa are the main source of knowledge about human evolution between three million and two million years ago. Australopithecus africanus is also known as Lucy, after the famous Beatles song.
The discovery of the Taung child in 1924 established that early fossil humans lived in Africa. Dart described the Taung child and named it Australopithecus africanus, which means “southern ape of Africa.” It took another 20 years before the species was widely accepted, but in the meantime, scientific studies and DNA testing showed that Australopithecus africanus was indeed human.
It hunted big game animals
After a brief stint as a medical student, Dart joined a team that compiled an exhibit of Kalahari Desert Bushmen, to be displayed at an exhibition of the British Empire in Johannesburg. Although little scientific information had been collected on these individuals, Dart spent a month studying their physical traits. Dart was impressed by their culture as living examples of Middle Stone Age societies. In addition to hunting big game animals, Dart also conducted research into the origin of human species and their evolution.
While working as the head of anatomy at the University of Witwatersrand, Raymond Dart became interested in fossils. One day, he discovered an odd ape-like creature in a limestone quarry. He dug into one of the rocks, and found a fossilized mold of a human brain! Despite his lack of knowledge about the origin of human life, Dart remained fascinated with the fossil.
It used baboon skulls as weapons
Raymond Dart, an Australian paleontologist, claims that apes may have used baboon skulls as weapons thousands of years ago. The fossil antelope skeletons in Swartkrans Cave in South Africa had a higher proportion of bony parts than those from ape-men. In fact, the cave contains the remains of over 150 individual hominins, including baboons and ape-men, as well as bones from skeletons.
In 1915, Dart became interested in physical anthropology, and began exploring the Royal College of Surgeons’s collection of brains. He met with Dr. Elliot Smith, who was involved with the Piltdown Man fossils, and he decided to apply for a chair in anatomical science at the University of Witwatersrand, a South African university. The University of Witwatersrand’s facilities were under construction when Dart arrived.
It was an intermediate form between anthropoid apes and humans
A. afarensis was a bipedal primate, engaged in tree-climbing, and used stone tools. Its shoulder shifts were similar to human throwing, with a laterally facing shoulder blade that stored energy, like a slingshot. Researchers are uncertain of its relationship to modern humans but believe that its existence is of great evolutionary significance.
The remains of Orrorin show that it was a polygynous species with high sexual dimorphism. Its cranial capacity ranged from 375 to 550 cc. Its height gives us clues about social behavior, but the skull and brain size of the species are unknown. Its canine teeth are larger than modern human canines, but blunt compared to apes. Early hominins displayed a high degree of sexual dimorphism, including canine sex.