The first Robustus

in science •  7 years ago 

Two years after Dr. Brooms successful escapade to the Sterkfontein caves, he would have another species to contend with and name from the farm next door.

This would be the first example of the "robust" australipithecines. He gave them their own genus (paranthropus) at first, which of course angered the British scientists.


By Ditsong National Museum of Natural History , CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

They had far bigger teeth and skulls and later even their bones would be found to be far more "robust" than the other more "gracile" australipiths.

The skull was found by a 15 year old schoolboy, Gert Terblanche on the farm Kromdraai. In trying to remove a souvenir he broke off the palate and some teeth and took them to show his schoolmates and the manager at Sterkfontein. Once Broom saw the palate he rushed off to the school to find Gert and the rest of the teeth. Together they were able to locate the rest of the skull still embedded in the rock and the beautiful specimen pictured above was the final result.

It was first named paranthropus robustus or "robust creature next to man". The genus paranthropus has fallen out of use in favor of placing them with the australopithicenes which have since been found in many places in Africa and with many variations.

The British scientific establishment was naturally upset by this new find and new genus but at least scientists from the US were starting to entertain the possibility that these were indeed representative of species closely allied to humans and their ancestors.

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Very intersting stuff, who would have there would be another species, just next door, could also have been neigbours, nice discovery, interesting read, thanks for the post.

This is amazing.
It took great effort to keep this robus. I know Gert Terblanche must have been an intelligent boy to have thought of taken such steps that brought about this discovery.

I wonder how weird it would have been in the beginning when people found out that their were so many different species to HUMANS also.

Yeah i mean they were our ancestors but still, it feels weird to think that someday, our teeth, eyes, and facial structure would be studied by our future generations.

This body on which we are so proud, such attachment and full of ego, this would someday be nothing but just a subject to study !!!

Life is weird.

Nice piece @gavvet !! Keep it up :)

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I really like the posts of inventions and discoveries because it give the essence or push for more exploration means in my opinion we are living in an world which is still an great mystery and as days passing we can witness news inventions and discoveries and in my opinion the ancient people were not less intelligent or educated, after watching the architectural structures and their construction it will reflect that they were more intelligent and explorative. Thanks for sharing this post with us and wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

That's a good job and great enovetion.it seams this skull is more old.teeths pair are distance.is it's colour golden? I think so many information hide in this.it should research by great scientists. thanks a lot for sharing

Hola amigo
Interesante el descubrimiento del chico.
Este homínido de acuerdo con la Comisión Internacional de Estratigrafía pertenece a la era del Pleistoceno.
Buen artículo.
Saludos y Gracias

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Good to read to read your well researched post once again.
I used to read your Taung Child posts and hmmm they were well researched and worthwhile and I learnt a lot from it. I even spent some time researching more on that particular subject and I'm glad it enlarged my knowledge base.

It's good to bump into your post once more and I think I'll carefully and painstakingly read and research more about it and I'll also do well to hang around more.


Thanks for sharing this.

Happy Steeming

What's this head sir

It's an Australopithecus robustus skull :)

Looks pretty beautiful

Fantastic discovery. terrible skull. I became curious about the continuation of his research results.

Let's start the battle of scientists!

Great post

Wow that skull is amazing, thanks for this post...

I know that Charles Darwin would be very elated if he were alive to witness this discovery

Fantastic !discovery? terrible skull I became curious about the continuation of his; research results????

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This paranthropus robustus apart from the earlier signs that shows they may be slightly related to the humans, is there any other trait that we can find from these skull, or maybe something else to create a research?

History and science, great discovery and interesting story to go with it.. Thanks for sharing this historical story and picture. I have learnt something new today as an historian blogger.

this is very strange and I have never seen a frame like this gold color. perhaps these scientists could solve this invention.
thank you for sharing for all of us. good post @gavvet

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nice post

Very nice Post
I like it this post, thanks for sharing.....

I was shocked and first time look at skull shape like this, looks solid.
our ancestors must be known.

bone of skull!

Paranthropus robustus is a hominin species. The fossils were first discovered in South Africa in 1938 by Robert Broom. This species belongs to the genus Paranthropus.

I love reading about extinct animals. Michael Crichton in Jurassic Park made me a fan.

So the skull was complete before this kid broke off the whole palate? I don't really know if I should either be mad or be happy that boy discovered the skull.

For those who still don't know, the Paranthropus robustus or robust australopithecine is an hominid discovered in Africa. It's said, their teeth were stronger and bigger than other hominid's.

They are distinguished by the following characteristics:

  • Round face and big skull.
  • A large sagittal crest to provide a wide area for muscles.
  • They were around 1 meters tall. And weigh around 50 kg (112 pounds).
  • About 1.8 million years old.
  • They had sexual dimorphism (which means males bone structure was much more different than females)

Thanks for wonderful posting mate. I've just started #steemit and post some #IT related things. Let's follower togethet and share good ideas👍

It is incredible to know that there is still so much without knowing, wonderful discoveries that await discovery. The past teaches us and prepares us for the future. Glorious discovery!

I had a look at some facial reconstructions of this species. Forensic facial reconstruction is a field I would have loved to do. Very interesting post!

Muy buena historia, interesante artículo. Saludos!!

It was first named paranthropus robustus or "robust creature next to man". The genus paranthropus has fallen out of use in favor of placing them with the australopithicenes which have since been found in many places in Africa and with many variations.

Did I just sense a composition about Australopithacos?
Interesting archaic evolution from my High school days.

The skull was found by a 15 year old schoolboy, Gert Terblanche on the farm Kromdraai. In trying to remove a souvenir he broke off the palate and some teeth and took them to show his schoolmates and the manager at Sterkfontein. Once Broom saw the palate he rushed off to the school to find Gert and the rest of the teeth.

I think that skull will be good for research in schools

Is this really authentic in nature? You can pick up skull that looks old or ancient and say this is somehow different from the previous "discovery". Mmmm..