New Australopithecus boisei calvaria from East Lake Turkana, Kenya.
The calvaria of an adult Australopithecus boisei from Area 104, Koobi Fora, Lake Turkana, is described. The specimen, KNM-ER 23000, comes from sediments dated to about 1.9 Ma. It consists of the frontal, both parietals, both temporals, most of the occipital as well as two small pieces of sphenoid, and a mandibular tooth root. The specimen is presumed to be an adult male, based on its size and the great development of features associated with the masticatory apparatus. KNM-ER 23000 is close in general size and shape to KNM-ER 406, KNM-ER 13750, and Olduvai Hominid 5 and it has a mixture of features seen in these three roughly contemporaneous crania. The frontal, especially the tori, resembles that of OH 5; the parietals are most like those of KNM-ER 13750; the occipital is like those of the two other Turkana specimens, and the temporals have a mixture of features from all of these, This specimen adds to our knowledge of variability in A. boisei.
Brown
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B
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
Walker
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A
Ward
C V
CV
Leakey
R E
RE
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*