A Day In History

The Bizarre History Of How Homo Sapiens Grew Big Brains (2022x53)

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Today we shall dive deep into human evolution as we look at some of the most bizarre theories of how homo sapiens grew big brains with enhanced cognitive abilities! For the first two-thirds of our evolution, homo-sapiens shared the same brain size of monkeys and other primates. It would take a groundbreaking discovery in 1924 at a quarry in Taung, South Africa, to first introduce this extraordinary new idea. It was there that anthropologist Raymond Dart was stunned to find the fossilized cranium and intact skeletal face of an early bipedal ape, whose remains shared amazing similarities with the human brain. Dart declared it a previously unknown ancestor of modern humans, christening it with the name Australopithecus africanus, or ‘Man-Ape of Africa,’ causing a mixture of skepticism and feverish enthusiasm to sweep the academic world.