Birth of Paranthropus

Abstract

Robert Broom, who is best known among vertebrate paleontologists for his research on mammal-like reptiles, was drawn into paleoanthropology because of his defense of Raymond Dart's interpretation of the Taung infant skull. Our contribution documents Robert Broom's background, his life and career, and how he became directly involved with human origins research in South Africa in the second and third decades of the 20thC. It focuses on the circumstances surrounding Broom's interest in what was being recovered at Sterkfontein, how Broom “discovered” the site of Kromdraai, and the fossil evidence that led to his 1938 paper announcing the discovery of a new hominin genus and species, Paranthropus robustus. It also summarizes subsequent discoveries assigned to P. robustus, and developments in interpretations of its evolutionary history. Broom was a complex character who combined remarkably “modern” interpretations of the early hominin fossil record, with decidedly idiosyncratic views about science and evolution, and attitudes to modern human variation that were overtly racist.