Why is the Taung Child so significant/important?

Question

Why is the Taung Child so significant/important?

Answer 1

You have to remember when and where Taung was found.  In the 1920's all the significant human fossils had been found in Europe or Asia.  

No one was thinking about Africa as a place to look, even though most of the great apes are found in Africa  (well, Louis Leakey was, but he was only 21 at the time).  Also, the prevailing theories of human evolution held that it was brain expansion that drove human evolution.

So the importance of Taung and Dart's study of it was in that:

1. It was the first important hominid remain to be found in Africa (although its status as a hominid was argued for many years)

2. Even though this was the remains of a juvenile, it indicated that other things than brain size might be driving human evolution (even factoring in the fact Taung was a six year old, projecting the cranial capacity of an adult showed a size around that of a chimp or gorilla).

wl

Answer 2

It demonstrated that the Piltdown man fossil was questionable.  It was an early probable example of a human ancestor or "missing link" predicted by Darwin.