Skull identitation - Essay Example

A Lab Report about Identification of Different Skulls This article is about the identification of three different skulls in the lab to ascertain their identity. These skulls under study were marked as mystery skull number 1, mystery skull number 2 and newly found skull. A study was undertaken for the three skulls by using a mosaic of trait that each demonstrates in comparison with other known skulls of chimpanzee, Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus robustus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus Neanderthal, Archaic Homo sapiens and Automatically Modern Homo sapiens.

This was done by trying to match up the ratios for the known varieties with the mystery skulls and the new found skull to identify the skulls under study. In addition, the observed physical characteristics on the frontal view and the profile views were also taken into consideration. For instance, the jaws and other features present in these different skulls.Unidentified skull number 1 This skull exhibits large supraorbital height index of approximately71 uv/tv. This almost matches the supraorbital size of Australopithecus africanus skull and Neanderthal skulls that are 70uv/tv and 70uv/tv respectively.

An analysis on the nuchal ridge area was also taken it had a height of 39tw/tv. A comparison was then drawn with regard to the known varieties; there was closeness with the nuchal skull of Australopithecus africanus and Neanderthal that had a nuchal area of 38tw/tv and 37tw/tv respectively. A further measurement was done on the condylar position on the skull. It was found out that the condylar position index was 44xy/xz. When this was compared with known varieties of skulls; there was an exact match with the condylar index of Australopithecus africanus that was also 44xy/xz.

To ascertain the identity of this skull, a further analysis was done and the physical characteristics of the skull and different traits were observed. The canine teeth were relatively smaller and the shape of the jaw was fully parabolic. These characteristic were shared with the skull of Australopithecus africanus. In general, this skull is possibly a skull of Australopithecus africanusMystery skull number 2 The results revealed that the supraorbital height index of this skull is 66uv/tv which was relatively smaller compared to the first skull (Elbroch, 2006).

Although, this exactly matches supraorbital size of Homo sapiens skull that is also 66uv/tv. Another study on the nuchal area height was also conducted and gave a height of 18tw/tv. It was observed that it was also smaller in size compared to that of the first skull but was closer to that of Australopithecus robustus. A further measurement was carried out on the position of the condylar on the skull and the result was 92xy/xz. This was different from the first skull and the other known varieties.

There was also an additional study that was done on the physical characteristic of this skull to determine its type. The outcome gave relatively wider mastoid process and larger mandibles that were visible. In addition, there were conspicuous jaws that clearly curved along the inferior surface of the mandible. These characteristic matched those found on the skull of Homo sapiensNewly found skull The measurement of this skull produced a distinctively different from the other two skulls in its features.

It had supraorbital height of 61uv/tv. This was however close to those of Homo habilis and Homo erectus which had 58uv/tv. A measurement was further conducted on the size of the nuchal area height of this skull and it had that 21tw/tv. This exactly matched the nuchal size of the skull of Homo habilis that was also 21tw/tv. In addition, the size of the condylar position was measured and it was found to be 86xy/xz which was relatively larger. It was also recommended to observe its physical characteristics to determine its identity and it was found that it had well arranged teeth, a relatively smaller jaws and the general size of the skull was also smaller compared to the size of the other two skulls.

The characteristics observed were the same with those of the skull of Homo habilis. Therefore this skull may possibly belong to Homo habilis.Conclusion Following the findings on the study done on the three skulls in comparison with the known varieties of the skulls, it was found out that the first skull belonged to Australopithecus africanus. The second skull was possibly of Homo sapiens and finally, the new found skull was most likely to be of Homo habilis.