Resumen

THACKERAY, Francis. The Taung Child [Australopithecus africanus), the Plio-Pleistocene boundary and a supernova hypothesis. S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2025, vol.121, n.5-6, pp.1-3. ISSN 1996-7489.  https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2025/21846.

SIGNIFICANCE: The Taung Child is a fossilised hominin skull and jaw from the North West Province in South Africa. One hundred years ago it was described by Raymond Dart as the type specimen of Australopithecus africanus, a distant human relative. On the basis of biochronology, it has recently been estimated to be 2.58 million years old. This date coincides with the Plio-Pleistocene boundary. In terms of a supernova hypothesis, it is proposed that global cooling between about 3 and 2.6 million years ago is related to factors associated with a supernova less than 100 parsecs from the solar system.

Palabras clave : Taung Child; Australopithecus africanus; Plio-Pleistocene; South Africa; supernova.

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