Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
with a natural endocast. Dubois was not so lucky, however, and had to
Dubois pioneered not only the method of estimating cranial capacity
from external skull measurements that Dart would later use when he
described Taung, but also the analytical techniques for studying brain-
skullcap and Taung both required extensive preparation before they
could be studied, and Dubois and Dart spent considerable time care-
fully cleaning them with a variety of tools, which included their wives'
embroidery and knitting needles. Thanks to advances in medical imag-
ing technology, my team did not have to resort to knitting needles or
the preparation of latex endocasts to study Hobbit's brain.
The above examples show that the study of hominin brain evolu-
tion (paleoneurology) is an exceptionally contentious subarea of paleo-
anthropology—so much so, in fact, that it begs explanation. Why on
Earth would scientists fabricate and publish data for a nonexistent en-
docast or falsely claim that researchers had examined and selectively
excluded a particular endocast from their published analyses? Are these
examples of the adage that “university politics are vicious precisely
the introduction, one reason why paleoneurology is such an academic
minefield may be that the brain is the physical locus of the neurological,
emotional, and cognitive traits that make us human. In other words,
when it comes to the subject of human evolution, the paleoneurological
stakes are high rather than low.
And it's not just paleoneurology that is contentious. As I carried out
the research for this topic, I was startled by the intensity of the scientific
debates that had greeted the discoveries of Neanderthals,
Pithecanthropus,
and Taung. When it comes to the subject of human origins, scientists
have been every bit as passionate about their convictions as religious
fundamentalists are. Although such academic infighting has been attrib-
uted to petty rivalries, jealousies, quests for power, and competition for
limited resources, such as grants and promotions, I think the reasons for
