Turkana boy, and how his discovery is important to

learning about human evolution

By Andrew turner

Intro

• In 1912, the false discovery of Piltdown man mislead the scientific community. In the years following, other, real fossil discoveries started to destroy Piltdown man’s credibility, and reveal it as a hoax.

• Since then, there have bin many fossil discoveries, Turkana boy is one of them.

discovery

• “Turkana boy” was discovered in west Turkana, Kenya on august 22, 1983. Discovered by Kamoya Kimeu. It was named after the location he was found, hence the name “Turkana boy”.

finds

• The skeleton of Turkana boy is 90% complete if symmetry is taken into account.

• Turkana boy has helped teach scientists about early humans.

• The only real absences was his hands and feet.

facts

• Early humans had roughly the same body size as chimpanzees, but, Turkana boy was over 6 feet tall at the time of death.

• Also, the body proportions were more similar to modern humans, with longer legs as oppose to arms.

• Turkana boy also had a cranial capacity of 880cc.

• It is estimated that at adulthood, he would have had a brain size in the area of 909cc.

• For reference: modern brain size is roughly 1400cc.

• As well, he was tall and slender, a trait found in modern humans located in tropical environments.

• Turkana boy was 9 to 12 years old at death

• It is unknown what his death was caused by.

conclusion

• The information the Turkana boy fossil provided has helped scientists gain a new perspective on human evolution, and made our past clearer.

sited

• http://anthropology.si.edu/HumanOrigins/ha/WT15k.html

• http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/15000.html