10. The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins

The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins
By Lee R. Berger & Marc Aronson
National Geographic Society, 2012

Genre
Non-Fiction

Awards
None known

Review
The Skull in the Rock follows the story of Lee R. Berger as he finds a link between Lucy, our 3.2 million year old relative and Lee's inspiration for fossil hunting, and homo erectus.  This book follows Lee going up as a young conservationist, through college where he ends up dropping out the first time, and on to his digging expedition to the Cradle of Humanity in Africa in 1991.  Here he found some fossils and in 1994 he witnessed the African crowned eagle pecking at his prey.  This gave Lee an idea that helped solve the mystery of damage seen on a fossil discovered many years before and dubbed the Taung Child.  After surveying the region surrounding his finds, he had little luck discovering other fossils and began to feel that the area had been picked clean of anymore useful remnants of the past.  In 2007, Lee tried using Google Earth for the first time to look at his old digging sites.  To his surprise he found there may be some collapsed caves and other possible digging areas he had missed.  Taking Job Kibii, his son, and his dog, he traveled to Africa to try digging again.  This time, his son literally stumbled upon the first bone in one of two skeletons located near each other - "no two such complete ancient hominin skeletons had ever been [found] located right next to one another".  The book goes on to explain the find, Lee's view of how evolution works, and implores young readers to pick up where Lee may leave off.  The authors even provide a website that they promise to keep updated with information (posted at the same reading level of this book) about things related to these skeletons and the studies surrounding them.

Opinion
A wonderful book for elementary schoolers, especially those interested in adventures, exploring, science, and fossils.  Lee's interpretation of evolution is shown in the back of the book; it's refreshing to see an idea that seems to encompass all scientific findings to this point that is more than an evolutionary ladder (Lee hypothesizes species interbred, making the idea of a simple line of an ape leading to a human one species at a time difficult).  I felt that this book could be inspiring to some youth, showing them that there is more out there and not "all the big discoveries [have] already been made" as the authors felt when they were young.  The glossary of terms is very helpful.  The photographs, diagrams and colorful fonts make the book beautiful and captivating.

Ideas
I'm not sure if classes are still teaching the idea from the picture of an ape slowly beginning to walk upright, use tools, and then showing a man, but this is the way I remember learning about evolution.  This alternative theory (if it is an alternative and not just the way things are now taught) would be a wonderful topic to introduce in science class or as part of a science project.