A. africanus because the zygomatics are very wide, protruding beyond the edge of the orbits. More recent hominids, like Homo habilis and H. erectus have far narrower zygomatics as they do not need such large powerful muscles to process their food.\"

1).The craniums you are graphing and measuring are NOT to scale between skulls. So, the Australopithecus may look larger on paper, but in real life, it is NOT!

2).WE ARE LOOKING AT PROPORTIONS NOT ACTUAL MEASUREMENTS IN MILLIMETERS OR INCHES – DON\’T FORGET. IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT REPORT, I DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOU DISCUSS YOU MEASUREMENTS but YOUR RATIOS!!!

3). Your lines must be parallel and perpendicular to the Frankfort plane (the line from the TOP of the ear opening auditory meatus to the bottom of the orbit); your lines may NOT be parallel and perpendicular to the edges of the paper. They may look like this:

skull with lines

4). In your lab report, PLEASE be sure to discuss the three indices and what they represent, and AT LEAST 3 additional traits in making your decision about the species identification of each skull.

TRAIT EXAMPLE \”Mystery Skull # 1 is a A. africanus because the zygomatics are very wide, protruding beyond the edge of the orbits. More recent hominids, like Homo habilis and H. erectus have far narrower zygomatics as they do not need such large powerful muscles to process their food.\”

INDEX EXAMPLE The Index of condylar position for Mystery Skull #1, compared to all of the known skulls, falls at the larger end of the hominin spectrum, indicating that Mystery Skull # 1 is more modern and has a more centered foramen magnun. Only the anatomically modern H. sapiens has a higher ratio.