However, the question is not entirely settled, since other studies have come to the opposite conclusion. Some experts have suggested that a partial skeleton, known only by its catalogue number of STS 14, which was discovered in the same year, in the same geological deposit and in proximity to Mrs. Ples, may belong to this skull. If correct, this would make Mrs. Ples the South African counterpart to the famous Lucy fossil. This skull, along with others discovered at Taung, Sterkfontein, and Makapansgat offered compelling evidence in favour of Charles Darwin's hypothesis that humanity's origin lay in Africa. The fossil was originally dated by a combination of palaeomagnetism and uranium-lead techniques to 2.1-2.6 million years ago. A 2022 study dating surrounding rocks with a new methodology, stated their age as 3.4-3.7 million years old. In 2004, Mrs. Ples was voted 95th in the SABC 3's and e.tv's Great South Africans Top 100 list. See also List of human evolution fossils Taung Child References 7. Frost, Stephen R., et al. “Biochronology of South African Hominin-Bearing Sites: A Reassessment Using Cercopithecid Primates.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 45, Oct. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210627119. Further reading External links Maropeng - The Cradle of Humankind official website UNESCO - Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs Metadata of STS 5 on NESPOS History of South Africa Australopithecus fossils Quaternary fossil record 1947 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in South Africa Archaeology of Southern Africa