replica Wait: 3 million years ago the earth looked different, right? Pangea? Taung Child Dated to 3 Million Years, and Its Growth Pattern Challenges a Famous Human Ancestor Species By Aris Manus | November 10, 2026 How old is the most famous child in human evolution, and is it really the same species as the adults it has been grouped with for a century? A team led by Gabriele Macho of Vrije Universiteit Brussel has dated the Taung Child to between 2.96 and 3.03 million years ago and concludes that its growth pattern does not match several adult fossils assigned to Australopithecus africanus . The skull, found in 1924 at South Africa's Buxton Limeworks quarry, is the holotype of the species. As the authors put it, 'Strictly speaking, only one unequivocal A. africanus specimen exists: the Taung child.' 'For over 100 years, we assumed the Taung Child was just one of many similar fossils from the era,' Macho says. 'Our findings turn that on its...