The Taung child, like fossils of other individuals who died before reaching adulthood, is a piece of the puzzle of the evolution of human growth and development, the puzzle of when, how, and why human “life history” evolved into its modern form. With regard to Taung, interest focuses on both its rate of growth (maturation of the child in relation to its age) and its pattern of growth (synchrony of the elements of maturation). The meaning of rates and patterns of growth, as well as the interpretation of maturation of Taung or any other fossil mammal, are best understood through the broad perspectives provided by comparative study of mammalian life history and the techniques of allometry.
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B. Holly Smith (1992) studied this question.
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