Australopithecus Africanus

Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between ~3.03 and 2.04 million years ago in the later Pliocene and early Pleistocene. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, Au. africanus was of slender build, or gracile, and was thought to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil remains indicate that Au. africanus was significantly more like modern humans than Au. afarensis, with a more human-like cranium permitting a larger brain and more humanoid facial features. Au. africanus has been found at only four sites in southern Africa — Taung (1924), Sterkfontein (1935), Makapansgat (1948) and Gladysvale (1992).