Re: Australopithicus factual info

Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
26 Jun 1995 22:45:14 GMT

In article <3smtku$gm2@jupiter.WichitaKS.HMPD.COM> Jim Foley,
jimf@vangelis.FtCollins.NCR.com writes:
>Yes, this sounds like Sts 5 (Mrs Ples). Sts 5 was female, and in
>africanus the males were probably considerably bigger than the males. I
>think it's probable that plenty of male (and even female) piths had
>brains over 500 cc; we just don't have a big enough sample size to have
>found them yet.

Real data:
Sts 5 cranial capacity = 485 cc
Sts 71 cranial capacity = 428 cc

Data is probably from Holloway, but I can check if anyone wants. The sex
attribution of Sts 5 is open to question, and I've seen suggestions that
this individual may be a male. The africanus sample is scrappy enough to
make this a difficult case since Sts 5 has no canines (or any other
teeth).
It certainly is probable that an expanded sample size will yield
endocranial volumes above 500 cc. The reason I suggested that 510 cc
probably came from ER 1813 is because the cranial capacity of this
individual is commonly cited as 510 cc. Also, numerous sources that are
not up to date suggest that ER 1813 is an A. africanus (as did R. Leakey
when it was discovered).

Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu