Six Skulls

Morphology is the study of the structure and form of organisms. Six skulls were looked at to be determined identified using morphological characteristics. This can determine the genus and species and time the hominid was likely alive. It can also help anthropologists know more about what the living conditions were like in the time that that species was alive. Traits like a sagittal keel or large molars can show that the food that that species consumed was likely tough and required a lot of chewing. The molars that are present in older hominids would slowly go away as species adapted to softer foods, as would the sagittal keel. The brain size would show the intelligence that a species was likely to have, as well as its proximity to modern humans, who have rather large craniums. When analyzing these six skulls …show more content…
This was seen to have a prominent chin which is hypothesized to help the jaw stand up against the forces generated by chewing. They have a A very large skull . It also has no retro- molar space, showing the diet consists of softer foods that require less chewing. It is a house- shaped skull, tall but not wide. This is the youngestnewest, and only current form of the skulls looked at. Cranium Ff is an Australopithecus africanus. This species has no sagittal crest, but has maxillarynostril pillars, which are hypothesized to have aided in chewing hard foods. It [Grab your reader’s attention with a great quote from the document or use this space to emphasize a key point. To place this text box anywhere on the page, just drag it.] It hHas a human- like cranium, and a large human- like brain . Despite this, it has a very primitive jaw and teeth, likely due to a similar diet to primates rather than younger hominids. It has a flexed basicranium, which is a skull base that is more angulated in the center.(in-text citation needed for this complex info). This is the second oldest out of the six skulls looked