ANT 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Hyoid Bone, Australopithecus, Endocast
Document Summary
Hallmark fossil because she is very preserved (proximal femur, leg. pelvis) a. l. Skeleton like lucy, but is a child. (was discovered across the river from lucy) One of the few fossils of a juvenile. (they don"t preserve as well; more prone to destruction) Skull and brain endocast (the size and shape/anatomical features of of the brain) Coloration and degree of preservation is one way to tell that these different bones come from the same skeleton. We can guess she"s little because she has her baby teeth. Tooth size is a good estimator between species body mass (not individual body mass). Males tend to have bigger teeth and females tend to have smaller teeth (this is how they guessed that she was a female) Her scapula (all intact) shape is similar to that of a juvenile gorilla (very few scapulas are preserved because it is a sensitive bone)
