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STS 5
__NOTOC__ Mrs. Ples is the popular nickname for the most complete skull of an ''Australopithecus africanus'' ever found in South Africa. Many ''Australopithecus'' fossils have been found near Sterkfontein, about northwest of Johannesburg, in a region of Gauteng (part of the Transvaal (Province), old Transvaal) now designated as the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Mrs. Ples was discovered by Robert Broom and John Talbot Robinson, John T. Robinson on April 18, 1947. Because of Broom's use of dynamite and pickaxe while excavating, Mrs. Ples's skull was blown into pieces and some fragments are missing. Nonetheless, Mrs./Mr. Ples is one of the most "perfect" pre-human skulls ever found. The skull is currently held at the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria. The nickname "Mrs. Ples" was coined by Broom's young co-workers. It derives from the scientific name ''Plesianthropus transvaalensis'' (near-man from the Transvaal), that Broom initially gave the skull, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australopithecus Africanus
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. The first specimen, the Taung child, was described by anatomist Raymond Dart in 1924, and was the first early hominin found. However, its closer relations to humans than to other apes would not become widely accepted until the middle of the century because most had believed humans evolved outside of Africa. It is unclear how ''A. africanus'' relates to other hominins, being variously placed as ancestral to ''Homo'' and ''Paranthropus'', to just ''Paranthropus'', or to just '' P. robustus''. The specimen " Little Foot" is the most completely preserved early hominin, with 90% of the skeleton intact, and the oldest South African australopith. However, it is controversially suggested that it and similar speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus ''Pan''. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that ''Pan'' is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is thus humans' closest living relative. The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing for males and for females and standing . The chimpanzee lives in groups that range in size from 15 to 150 members, although individuals travel and forage in much smaller groups during the day. The species lives ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taung Child
The Taung Child (or Taung Baby) is the fossilised skull of a young ''Australopithecus africanus''. It was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa. Raymond Dart described it as a new species in the journal ''Nature'' in 1925. The Taung skull is in repository at the University of Witwatersrand. Dean Falk, a specialist in brain evolution, has called it "the most important anthropological fossil of the twentieth century." Description The Taung Child was originally thought to have been about six years old at death because of the presence of deciduous teeth, but is now believed to have been about three or four, based on studies of rates of enamel deposition on the teeth. There was some debate over the age of the child, initially because it was unclear if they grew at the speed of a human, or of an ape. Compared to an ape, they would have been aged about 4 years, and compared to a human, they would have been aged around 5–7 y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Human Evolution Fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of Hominini, hominin fossils and Skeleton, remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the Chimpanzee–human last common ancestor, human and chimpanzee lineages) in the late Miocene, roughly 7 to 8 million years ago. As there are thousands of fossils, mostly fragmentary, often consisting of single bones or isolated teeth with complete skulls and skeletons rare, this overview is not complete, but shows some of the most important findings. The fossils are arranged by approximate age as determined by radiometric dating and/or incremental dating and the species name represents current consensus; if there is no clear scientific consensus the other possible classifications are indicated. The early fossils shown are not considered ancestors to ''Homo sapiens'' but are closely related to ancestors and are therefore important to the study of the lineage. After 1.5 million ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great South Africans
''Great South Africans'' was a South African television series that aired on SABC3. It was hosted by Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll under the series to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time. Votes were cast by telephone, SMS, and the website of the state-run South African Broadcasting Corporation television channel, SABC3, which aired a series of profiles and documentaries in the weeks leading up to the announcement of the top 100. The programme was modelled on the BBC's ''Greatest Britons'' series By Helen Joseph In South Africa, the list was headed by Nelson Mandela, a predictable and obvious popular choice, given his global stature as a statesman and symbol of post-apartheid liberation and reconciliation. Other popular choices ranged from Professor Christiaan Barnard, the pioneering heart surgeon, to General Jan Smuts, wartime Prime Minister and co-founder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SABC 3
SABC 3, also branded as S3, is a South African free-to-air television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Since March 2024, it carries programming in English and Afrikaans only. History On 1 January 1982, two television services were introduced: TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a Black urban audience. The main network, then called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. In 1986, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, sharing the same television frequency used by TV2 and TV3; the new service started broadcasting at 9.30pm. In 1991, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were merged into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values). A third network was introduced known as TSS, or TopSport Surplus, TopSport being the brand name for the SABC's sport coverage, but this was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an education ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleomagnetism
Paleomagnetism (occasionally palaeomagnetism) is the study of prehistoric Earth's magnetic fields recorded in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials. Geophysicists who specialize in paleomagnetism are called ''paleomagnetists.'' Certain magnetic minerals in rock (geology), rocks can record the direction and intensity of Earth's magnetic field at the time they formed. This record provides information on the past behavior of the geomagnetic field and the past location of Plate tectonics, tectonic plates. The record of geomagnetic reversals preserved in Volcanic rock, volcanic and sedimentary rock sequences (magnetostratigraphy) provides a time-scale that is used as a geochronology, geochronologic tool. Evidence from paleomagnetism led to the revival of the continental drift hypothesis and its transformation into the modern theory of plate tectonics. Apparent polar wander paths provided the first clear geophysical evidence for continental drift, while marine magnetic anomaly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Makapansgat
Makapansgat () (or Makapan Valley World Heritage Site) is an archaeological location within the Makapansgat and Zwartkrans Valleys, northeast of Mokopane in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is an important palaeontological site, with the local Lime (material), limeworks containing ''Australopithecus''-bearing deposits dating to between 3.0 and 2.6 million years Before Present, BP. The whole Makapan Valley has been declared a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African Heritage Site. Makapansgat belongs to the Cradle of Humankind. Makapansgat Valley sites Makapansgat limeworks This is the oldest of the cave sites in the Makapansgat valley, spanning an age of greater than 4.0 million years until perhaps 1.6 million years ago. This site has yielded many thousands of fossil bones, amongst which were found remains of the gracile australopithecine ''Australopithecus africanus''. The ''A. africanus'' fossils are suggested to date to between 2.85 and 2.58 million years ago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taung
Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means ''place of the lion'' and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong people. ''Tau'' is the Tswana word for lion. Taung skull fossil site In 1924, a skull (later named the Taung Child) was discovered by a quarry-worker in the nearby Buxton-limestone quarry. It was described by Raymond Dart in 1925 as the type specimen of ''Australopithecus africanus'' after he received a shipment of mostly fossil baboons, but also containing the skull and face of the child. Surprisingly, it would be many years before Dart would visit Taung to determine the exact location of the find. By that time, lime-mining had destroyed much of the area. Later ''in-situ'' excavations were conducted under the direction of Phillip Tobias and Jeffrey McKee of the University of the Witwatersrand, who worked at the site from approximately 1989 until 1993. Although they failed to find additional hominid specimens, they d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucy (Australopithecus)
AL 288-1, commonly known as Lucy or Dinkinesh (), is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone comprising 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species ''Australopithecus afarensis''. It was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, at Hadar, a site in the Awash Valley of the Afar Triangle, by Donald Johanson, a paleoanthropologist of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Lucy is an early australopithecine and is dated to about 3.2 million years ago. The skeleton presents a small skull akin to that of non-hominin apes, plus evidence of a walking-gait that was bipedal and upright, akin to that of humans (and other hominins); this combination supports the view of human evolution that bipedalism preceded increase in brain size. A 2016 study proposes that ''Australopithecus afarensis'' was, at least partly, tree-dwelling, though the extent of this is debated. Lucy was named by Pamela Alderman after the 1967 song " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
STS 14
STS 14 is a fossilized partial skeleton of the species ''Australopithecus africanus''. It was discovered at Sterkfontein, South Africa by Robert Broom and John T. Robinson in August 1947, and is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old. Some scientists have proposed that STS 14 may have come from the same individual as STS 5 though that fossil is considered only 2.15 million years old. Description The specimen consists of a pelvis, vertebral column and fragmentary rib and femur. Notable characteristics include the distinctly human-like shape of its pelvic blades, indicating a type of bipedalism. This find was the first to demonstrate, without a doubt, pre-Homo bipedality. Curiously, the specimen has six lumbar vertebrae, more than either most humans, who have five, or modern apes, which may have five or fewer. The specimen's sacrum The sacrum (: sacra or sacrums), in human anatomy, is a triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CT Scan
A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or radiology technologists. CT scanners use a rotating X-ray tube and a row of detectors placed in a gantry (medical), gantry to measure X-ray Attenuation#Radiography, attenuations by different tissues inside the body. The multiple X-ray measurements taken from different angles are then processed on a computer using tomographic reconstruction algorithms to produce Tomography, tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual "slices") of a body. CT scans can be used in patients with metallic implants or pacemakers, for whom magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is Contraindication, contraindicated. Since its development in the 1970s, CT scanning has proven to be a versatile imaging technique. While CT is most prominently used in medical diagnosis, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
