Raymond Dart, granddaddy of African palaeontology (pictured), used his wife’s knitting needles and modified kitchen utensils to liberate the skull of Taung Child (Australopithecus africanus) from the breccia block that was found in the Buxton lime quarry in 1924. This discovery changed our understanding of hominen evolution, locating our human origins firmly in Africa.
Today, fossil preparators use high tech pneumatic air tools to prepare fossils for analysis. As in this clip, taken at the Malapa museum and laboratory, which you can visit as part of OriginSafaris.Africa’s archaeology safari in the Cradle of Humankind, just north of Johannesburg.
