Shocking discovery: 2.2 million-year-old fossil skull reveals secret behind human mastery – the key lies in the soft heads of our babies!

A fossil infant skull from 2.2 million years ago reveals how humans were smarter than other great apes, and the key lies in our babies’ soft heads.

A fossil more than two million years old could help explain why man became so intelligent.

The fossil of Taung, one of the first hominids discovered in South Africa in 1924, presents important characteristics that could shed light on the evolution of intelligence.

The Taung fossil, one of the first hominids discovered in South Africa in 1924, had important features that could shed light on the evolution of intelligence.

Importantly, it has a “persistent metopic suture” (an unfused seam) in the frontal bone, which allows the baby’s skull to be flexible during birth. In great apes this closes shortly after birth, but in humans it does not fuse until around two years of age, allowing brain growth.

The unfused seam allows babies to be born with larger brains, and delayed fusion allows the brain to grow in the first years of life, reports Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Taung fossil has become the “type specimen” or primary model of the genus Australopithecus africanus.

An australopithecus is any species of the extinct genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus that lived in Africa, walked on two legs, and had relatively small brains.

Dr Dean Falk of Florida State University said: “These findings are important because they provide a very plausible explanation for why the hominid brain could grow larger and more complex.”

“Persistent metopic suturing, an advanced trait, probably occurred along with the improvement of the ability to walk on two legs.

‘The ability to walk upright caused an obstetric dilemma.

‘Birth became more difficult because the shape of the birth canal shrank while the size of the brain increased. Persistent metopic suturing contributes to an evolutionary solution to this dilemma.

“Posterior fusion was also associated with the evolutionary expansion of the frontal lobes, which is evident in the endocasts of australopithecines such as Taung.”