title: The oldest complete skeleton of an Australopithecus in Africa (StW 573).
abstract: Although 78 years have elapsed since the discovery at Taung of the Australopithecus africanus, and despite intensive fieldwork in East Africa which resulted in 32 years of non-stop excavation at Sterkfontein, there has not been a discovery to date of a reasonably intact skull and associated skeleton of an ape-man. The following report is an account of an extraordinary series of events that led to the discovery of a complete skeleton on an Australopithecus, and a preliminary assessment of the significance of the fossil, which is still 5 years after its discovery largely embedded in the Member 2 breccia of the Sterkfontein Caves near Krugersdorp, South Africa.
authors.affiliation: Franz Weidenreich, Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics, University of Frankfurt/M., Germany. PvZieten@anthropology.uni-frankfurt.de
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Protsch von Zieten
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D010164:Paleopathology; D012863:Skeleton; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013019:South Africa