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 Louis
Seymour Bazett Leakey gained
international acclaim for his excavations in the
Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), which resulted in the
discovery of Homo habilis, the first
human ancestor ever found associated with tools. |
 Eugene DuBois
went to the Dutch East Indies in 1887
specifically to look for fossils of human
ancestors. His search was rewarded by the
discovery of fossils which he ultimately named Pithecanthropus
erectus ("Java Man"). |
 Piltdown
Man, The Ancestor Who Never Was
Between 1908 and 1912, parts of a skull and of a
jawbone were found in a gravel pit at Piltdown in
Sussex, England. Many scientists believed the
remains to be from a form of human being who
lived 250,000 years ago. In 1955, however, it was
discovered that the entire find was a fake. |
 Trephination
was the most spectacular
practice of very early medicine. The operation
consisted of opening the scalp to uncover the
cranial bone, cutting out a round or square piece
of bone, cleansing and dressing the opening and,
finally, replacing the scalp flap. |
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