Evolution Of The World's Most Famous Human Fossils Sparknotes

Imaara Zuhaire

May 1, 2023

Introduction to Human Evolution

Professor Robert Scott

Fossils are an important tool to help tell stories about the history of the world and humankind. Fossils help answer important questions such as how humans evolved over time, what their lifestyles and diets looked like or where they migrated from. Anthropologists see fossils almost as celebrities because of their rarity. This importance is portrayed through the lens of Lydia Pyne in Seven Skeletons: Evolution of the World’s most Famous Human Fossils. Seven Skeletons is an exploration of scientific and cultural significance of human skeletons throughout history. The book takes the audience through a journey through time, inspecting seven different skeletons

Within the chapter it discussed the role that museums played in the development of science and understanding the past of humans, “Museums proliferated, taking the cabinets of curiosities from older generations and creating formal institutions, giving these newly amassed collections of animals, plants, and fossils new life.” (Pyne 15). Along with this in mind , the mid-nineteenth century marked the origin of Neanderthal research. Many historians took great interest in looking through records of material culture-artifacts and stone tools. The findings of Neanderthal fossils and its artifacts was a huge breakthrough in archeological and paleo-anthropological research. In discovering Neanderthals (August 1856), this led scientists to other important yet simple questions such as, “Where had Neanderthals come from? What did their culture and technologies look like? And why did they die out?” (Pyne 19). This is important because the findings of new fossils bring up important questions to solve the overall question of where did humans come

It is a fossilized skull of a young child who lived in what is now South Africa around 2.8 million years ago. The discovery of the Taung child is important because it challenged the ideas and research of the new era of human evolution in Africa. In the chapter, the large question was whether or not the Taung child had any relation to humans. Sir Arthur Keith, who was a British anthropologist ( and an advocate for scientific racism), “...Doubled down on his claim that the Taung Child’s species wasn’t ancestral to modern humans”(Pyne 97). But outside of him, the public got word of the discovery of this fossils and the question of whether or not this fossil was apart of human history still linger-but lingered even louder which newspaper articles debating on the subject as well. On page 101, there is a sketch by Paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart depicting what the Taung child would look like if alive. In short, despite the skepticism of Sir Arthur Keith, Raymond Dart helped recognize that the Taung child fossil is a primitive hominin meaning that it is a member of the human lineage. The discovery of this fossil was a huge milestone in the history of paleoanthropology–by Pyne sharing this important anecdote of the journey and importance of the Taung child, it gives readers a clear understanding and can connect it to the beginning of the book when