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Science 12 June 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5370, pp. 1730 - 1731
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5370.1730
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Reports
Endocranial Capacity in an Early Hominid Cranium from Sterkfontein, South Africa
Glenn C. Conroy,
*
Gerhard W. Weber,
Horst Seidler,
Phillip V. Tobias,
Alex Kane,
Barry Brunsden
Two- and three-dimensional computer imaging shows that endocranial
capacity in an ~2.8- to 2.6-million-year-old early hominid cranium
(Stw 505) from Sterkfontein, South Africa, tentatively assigned to
Australopithecus africanus, is ~515 cubic centimeters. Although this is the largest endocranial capacity recorded for this
species, it is still markedly less than anecdotal reports of
endocranial capacity exceeding 600 cubic centimeters. No
australopithecine has an endocranial capacity approaching, let alone
exceeding, 600 cubic centimeters. Some currently accepted estimates of
early hominid endocranial capacity may be inflated, suggesting that the
tempo and mode of early hominid brain evolution may need reevaluation.
G. C. Conroy, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
and Department of Anthropology, Washington University School of
Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
G. W. Weber and H. Seidler, Institute of Human Biology, University
of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
P. V. Tobias, Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of the
Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa.
A. Kane, Division of Plastic Surgery, Washington University
School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
B. Brunsden, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University
School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed at the
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Box 8108, Washington
University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. E-mail:
conroyg{at}thalamus.wustl.edu
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