Goal
Use the modules and review resources to complete the chart on this handout comparing skull features of the chimp, human, Australopithecus afarensis, and Paranthropus boisei. Refer to the module page for images of skulls of the four species.
Instructions
Refer to the module page Week 12 - Skull Images for the Assignments for images and 3-D rotations of the four skulls you need to describe and compare.
Open the worksheet An111 Comparing Early Hominin Skulls.docx Download An111 Comparing Early Hominin Skulls.docx and fill out the table to compare features across the species. The rows will ask for one of the following types of answers.
Simple descriptions and comparisons are fine for our purposes, Review:
Present or absent: When a feature is either there or not, you can use a + for present and – for absent.
For example, “presence of sagittal crest” can be answered + or –.
Describe: When you are asked to describe a feature, do so with a few words or short phrase.
For example, “shape of dental arcade” can be answered “U-shaped.”
Compare: When you are asked to compare, you need to ask “compare to what?”
For Example: If there are three skulls being compared, you might say X and Y are smaller than Z. Or X is smaller than Y and Y is larger than Z.
Measure: Use the measurements you collected in the Early Hominin Skull Measurements Assignment to complete this row and compare the index across species.
Alternately, you may use these measurements gathered from teaching materials at LAVC. All measurements are in millimeters
Chimpanzee (male)Human (euro male)A. afarensisP. boiseibasion to opisthicranion
58
927175basion to prosthion
150
94129135nasion to prosthion
- 78
7084110basion to bregma
85
1329192