Taung

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

The Blue Pools is a series of pools in the Taung valley, and is a popular hiking, abseiling and picnic venue.

The Taung Heritage Site marks the place where a major paleontological skull was found.

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History

In 1924 a fossilized skull was dug up at Buxton quarry and named Australopithecus africanus, also known as the Taung Skull, by Raymond Dart. This skull consists of part of the cranium of a young child of about three years old and has been dated as more than 2.5 million years old. It is one of the oldest fossils of humanoids, not in the direct line to homo sapiens, but a distant cousin. The species that could walk upright, but was yet a good tree climber. Other specimens of this species have subsequently been found in Kenya and Ethiopia, and dated even earlier to 4.4 million years ago.

Later, at Taung, many other fossils have also been found, of which most are cercopithecids (extinct baboon species), as well as fossil bovids, rodents, invertebrates, and plants.

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Climate

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