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Fossil Lab

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Audrey Pan
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6 views1 page

Fossil Lab

Uploaded by

Audrey Pan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History online provides a variety of fossils

for observation. To understand the anatomical fossils, there needs to be a visual understanding of
the similarities and differences with the fossils. To look at the different specimens, we look at the
similarities and differences of the Australopithecus and the Neanderthals and analyze what the
characteristics mean through the environment and through their development.
1. We first look at three specimens of the Australopithecus, the first being Australopithecus
afarensis, a cranium specimen without the lower mandible, the description is that the
skull is similar to the famous skeleton, “Lucy”. The second specimen is Australopithecus
africanus, this specimen was previously mistaken for a baby chimpanzee due to its
ape-like features, but was proven false. The third specimen is also a Australopithecus
africanus, another cranium feature with half of the skull missing and parts of the right
maxilla fractured from the rest of the skull. Both Australopithecus africanus were found
in South Africa, but are different in ranges. With Australopithecus afarensis, the
specimen was found in Ethiopia. The two varying settings are no less different than their
physical qualities. All three specimens have small cranial capacities, robust jaws, and
large cheekbones. These physical traits are indicative of a more fiber-based diet with
plants or roots. However, Australopithecus afarensis have a more primitive cranial
quality, with a flatter cranium and protruding face, this contrasts the Australopithecus
africanus with a much rounder cranium and a more pronounced face. The
Australopithecus africanus traits represent the difference in environments mentioned
before. It is apparent that the change in diet, the difference in climate, and the social
environmental implications can dictate brain size and jaw size. Whereas the
Australopithecus africanus have a slightly larger brain than the Australopithecus
afarensis, insinuating that the environment the Australopithecus africanus adapted to
different dynamisms.
2. The three specimens of Neanderthals have a larger array of specimens in the collection.
The three examples used are all Homo neanderthalensis. The first specimen is a cranium
of a young skull in 1829 and was discovered by Philippe-Charles Schmerling. The second
specimen is another cranium, with only the front brow ridges but missing both the
maxilla and the mandible; this specimen was discovered in Croatia in 1899. The final
specimen is another cranium found in Germany in 1856. The similarities in these
craniums demonstrates the qualities of the Homo neanderthalensis. All Homo
neanderthalensis have large craniums and very prominent brow ridges. It is
demonstrating that the brain size and shape of this species proves larger based on the
prominent skeletal structure of the Homo neanderthalensis. The differences in these
specimens is found in the size of the craniums. Though these three specimens are
relatively closer in age in discovery in the span of a century, the size of their craniums
still get thicker over time. In the case of the oldest specimen observed here, the young
skull had less of a prominent brow ridge, though the skull was young, there is evidence in
the other two specimens that their brow ridges would become more defined in the later
years. The rest of the two specimens have strong and forward cranial shapes that move
the evolutionary changes forward.
In conclusion, the developmental changes in these specimens proved evolutionary
changes based on the environment, cranium size, dental morphology, and jaw size. With these
changes in both the Australopithecus and the Neanderthals, this understanding moved these
developmental changes through the world’s environmental shifts.

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