Anthropology: Shelf Four

Research Guide for topics related to the study of anthropology.

Australopithecines

On Shelf #4: Here we see three members of the group known to anthropologists as australopithecines. Specifically, you will see on the left a replica of the fossil skull known as STS 5 or Mrs. Ples (a nickname based on a now defunct genus name, “Plesioanthropus”, but now known as a member of the same species as the Taung Child. Mrs. Ples, who is actually probably a male, is an adult member of Australopithecus africanus [found in Sterkfontein, South Africa in 1947 by Charles Broom and John T. Robinson; ~2 Mya]). Taking up the center of the shelf are the skull, leg and hip bones of the individual known to science as AL-288-1 but known more widely as Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis [found in 1974 by Donald Johansen in the Afar region of Ethiopia; ~3.2 Mya]). To the right, we have displayed a skull of Kenyanthropus platyops [found by Justus Erus, a member of the team led by Maeve Leakey, in 1999; ~3.3 Mya].  Members of this group were all rather small, probably no more than 3 to 4 feet tall and all had small chimp-sized brains, and probably had diets similar to that present-day chimps, that is fruit, soft leaves, insects, eggs and small mammals when they could be caught.

•  Lucy’s leg bone is displayed in fragments but if you look shelf #4 in display case C, you will find Lucy’s femur reconstructed. Compare its shape to the femur of modern humans. How can you tell that it belonged to a bipedal creature that is one that walked upright on two legs?

•  Note that the jaws of these australopithecines were chimp-like in their prominence. The size of the jaws indicates the rough texture and consistency of their food.

•  Also note that the period in which these species lived was a time of great diversity in human evolution. For example, though there is some disagreement of doing so, the right most species has been placed in a separate genus to indicate that there are substantial and significant physical differences between it and other australopithecines. In this case, some say that the teeth of Kenyanthropus are smaller, and the bony structure of the face is flatter than those of species classified in the genus Australopithecus.

•  Rather than imagining that the evolution of humans followed a single line with one species arising in turn from another becoming extinct, it is best to think of human evolution as a process that yielded many variations that often co-existed on the same landscape. This leads, of course, to some healthy confusion…who was our ancestor? Was it Australopithecus afarensis? Kenyanthropus platyops? Or someone else as yet undiscovered? There are still mysteries to be solved.

Image: Skull of 'Mrs. Ples"

Image: Mrs Ples, side view

Image: Lucy bones, leg and hip

Image: Lucy Skull

Image: Lucy Skull, side view

Image: Skull, KNM-TW 40000

Image: KNM-WI 40000, side view