Re: Height of Turkana Boy?
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
8 Nov 1995 12:40:18 GMT
In article <47pm58$h0o@due.unit.no> Mithrandir, jeo@stud.unit.no writes:
>I've just started reading Leakey's Origins Reconsidered.
>He states that the Turkana Boy died at an age of 12 and was
>between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 8 tall. He then conclude that an
>adult "Turkana Man" would be above 6 feet (quite tall). I was
>wondering: Couldn't it be that the species were fully grown
>by the age of 12? To me it seems natural that more 'primitive'
>species go through childhood and youth faster than Homo Sapiens.
All non-human primate species do mature faster than modern humans. The
Turkana Boy was far from being fully grown, however. Most of the
epiphyses of the long bones remain unfused, indicating that growth was
still taking place when he died. In a chimp of a similar age, the
epiphyses are all fused.
Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu
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