Breaking News: The Most Intact Homo erectus Female Pelvis
The upcoming issue of Science will be publishing the announcement of a newly discovered 1.2 million-year-old female Homo erectus pelvis. The fossil was found in 2001 at the Gona Study Area in the Afar region Ethiopia. Excavations were completed in 2003.
The 1.2 million year old female Homo erectus pelvis from Gona, Ethiopia
Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the Gona Project, said that the birth canal of this pelvis is 30% larger than earlier estimates based on the 1.5-million-year-old juvenile male pelvis of KNM-WT 15000 (Turkana Boy) found in Kenya. I don’t have an early copy of the paper, but if this is true, this find will make us reevaluate our estimations of Homo erectus growth and development. Current theories, based upon estimations of the existing male skeleton from Kenya, suggested Homo erectus produced babies with only a limited neonatal brain size, and experienced rapid brain growth while still developmentally immature. But as you may know, male and female primate pelvic girdles are extremely different. This new pelvis also tells us of some interesting differences in stature and gait.
Early hominid female pelvic anatomy is basically unknown, in fact we don’t really have much data, really only Lucy’s fragmented pelvis, the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis. So I’m interested in reading more about this fossil and what it has to tell us of Homo erectus anatomy and early human evolution. I guess I gotta wait until the paper appears in Science. Expect a post about it as soon as I get my hands on the paper.
[...] http://anthropology.net/2008/11/13/breaking-news-the-most-intact-homo-erectus-female-pelvis/ [...]
Breaking News: The Most Intact Homo erectus Female Pelvis « Heidi-Lore’s Musings
November 13, 2008 at 1:10 pm
As a anthropologist one said, “would you bone that?”
Idunno Yucare
January 25, 2009 at 2:40 pm
[...] Breaking News: The Most Intact Homo erectus Female Pelvis « Anthropology.net Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the Gona Project, said that the birth canal of this pelvis is 30% larger than earlier estimates based on the 1.5-million-year-old juvenile male pelvis of KNM-WT 15000 (Turkana Boy) found in Kenya. I don’t have an early copy of the paper, but if this is true, this find will make us reevaluate our estimations of Homo erectus growth and development. Current theories, based upon estimations of the existing male skeleton from Kenya, suggested Homo erectus produced babies with only a limited neonatal brain size, and experienced rapid brain growth while still developmentally immature. But as you may know, male and female primate pelvic girdles are extremely different. This new pelvis also tells us of some interesting differences in stature and gait. [...]
A MILLION YEARS OF PELVIC THRUSTS « Culture of Life News
February 6, 2009 at 1:38 pm
[...] New Homo erectus Pelvis From Gona Posted on November 23, 2008 by afarensis, FCD As both Kambiz and Hawks have pointed out, a new Homo erectus pelvis has been discovered in [...]
The New Homo erectus Pelvis From Gona « Afarensis: Anthropology, Evolution, and Science
September 26, 2009 at 4:16 pm
[...] we know why the publication date of the book on Ethiopian Homo erectus keeps getting pushed back. Kambiz has the story on the new female H. erectus pelvis. Most of the accounts I have seen focus on the birthing babies aspect – a hot research topic [...]
New Homo erectus Pelvis « Afarensis: Anthropology, Evolution, and Science
September 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm