I was listening to a repeat of the most amazing programme about an extremely ancient murder mystery - 2 million years old to be exact - that was part of a Radio 4 Science broadcast.
In the first minute of this fascinating piece, the scientists presenting the show completely threw away their credibility. Listen to the clip, and see if you can spot their howling mistake.
I hope the link to the audio for the whole programme stays live, because it’s one of the most engaging stories you will hear in a long time (excepting the goof, of course).
Picture from The Natural History Museum
(Answers in the comment box 
please )
6 Comments
Dan! I missed it…
Am I too stupid, or is my english not good enough?
@Holger, even if the original broadcast is off air, just play the little audio clip under the picture (Audio mp3). You will hear the mistake.
OK…. I guess what you’re driving at is this, Michael:
The speaker begins with the presumption that the Taung child’s death is the result of ‘murder’ - a deliberate killing by another of it’s own species - and then hopes to prove the how and the why the killing occurred, instead of following the evidence to establish a probable cause of death. The proper experimental procedure was eventually followed and the killer is now thought to be a big bad eagle.
Raymond Dart is now a rather discredited figure. But there was an American writer - whose name I forget - who championed his theories in the 60’s. William Burroughs was fond of taking potshots at him, I recall.
I think Elias Canetti and Rene Girard have much more interesting theories of killing, violence and it’s purpose in human nature. Canetti’s ‘Crowds and Power’ is easy to read but hard to remember - for me at least. Girard is a lot more difficuilt but I would attempt to follow him by suggesting that the Taung child is an example - par excellence - of the sacrificial hero in that we are moved by the story of his death in the eagle’s claws and also gain from it.
Wow. Your response is erudite and fascinatiing, Neil. Canetti and Girard have been added to my future reading list forthwith.
I fear my little puzzle might seem a bit superficial when compared to the elegance of your comment.
Bu the howler still howls across the millenia, and the tiny footprints of the Taung child still gleam moistly in the semantic bogs of the dark and fearful forest….
The answer is contained within the clip, not without.
Well, rattle my bones, Michael, your teazer has me all tangled…What’s the answer?
The Taung Child is mentioned in Timothy Taylor’s excellent book “The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death”…. Also a nice, clear summary of Girard’s ideas. I stumbled once upon a 2nd hand copy of Girard’s “The Scapegoat” on Charing Cross road and still find it - along with “Violence and The Sacred” - the most straightforward of his books. Others have the most fascinating titles: “The Old Way And The Wicked”, “Things Hidden Since The Foundation Of The World”. But I am not an adept and lose my footing along the philosophical path to the old way of the wicked.
P.S. I am delighted to have now heard of the West Runton Elephant…. Thanks.
I’ve sent you an e-mail, Neil, so that others might keep guessing.
If you have to kick yourself, then please don’t kick me, too!