Endocranial Capacity in an Early Hominid Cranium from Sterkfontein, South Africa-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Endocranial Capacity in an Early Hominid Cranium from Sterkfontein, South Africa

Published:1998-06-12 Issue:5370 Volume:280 Page:1730-1731
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

Conroy Glenn C.¹²³⁴⁵,Weber Gerhard W.¹²³⁴⁵,Seidler Horst¹²³⁴⁵,Tobias Phillip V.¹²³⁴⁵,Kane Alex¹²³⁴⁵,Brunsden Barry¹²³⁴⁵

Affiliation:

1. G. C. Conroy, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and Department of Anthropology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.

2. G. W. Weber and H. Seidler, Institute of Human Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

3. P. V. Tobias, Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa.

4. A. Kane, Division of Plastic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.

5. B. Brunsden, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.

Abstract

Two- and three-dimensional computer imaging shows that endocranial capacity in an ∼2.8- to 2.6-million-year-old early hominid cranium (Stw 505) from Sterkfontein, South Africa, tentatively assigned to Australopithecus africanus , is ∼515 cubic centimeters. Although this is the largest endocranial capacity recorded for this species, it is still markedly less than anecdotal reports of endocranial capacity exceeding 600 cubic centimeters. No australopithecine has an endocranial capacity approaching, let alone exceeding, 600 cubic centimeters. Some currently accepted estimates of early hominid endocranial capacity may be inflated, suggesting that the tempo and mode of early hominid brain evolution may need reevaluation.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference12 articles.

1. P. V. Tobias “23rd Annual Report of the Palaeo-Anthropology Research Unit” (Univ. of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg 1989).

2. D. Johanson and B. Edgar From Lucy to Language (Simon & Schuster New York 1996).

3. CT scans were taken on a Siemens Somatom Plus4 CT scanner at Selby Park Medical Centre Marshalltown South Africa. The density histogram values for the fossil lie between 1800 and 3000 Hounsfield units (HU) whereas normal bone is normally between about 400 and 3000 HU. The CT settings were as follows: matrix = 512 × 512 scan time = 1.5 s kilovoltage (kV) = 140 milliamperes (mA) = 129 12-bit gray scale and pixel size of 0.39 mm. Computer models were made with ANALYZE software on a Silicon Graphics Workstation.

4. Seidler H., et al., J. Hum. Evol.33, 691 (1997); G. Weber et al.,Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 26, 228 (1998).

5. Other more indirect subjective measures also give us confidence that this value is a reasonable one. For example the parietal fragments of the OH-5 cranium (“Zinj”) fit “Mr. Ples” precisely (in fact if anything are slightly large for “Mr. Ples”). “Zinj” has an estimated endocranial capacity of 530 cm 3 .

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