Reevaluating the functional implications of Australopithecus afarensis navicular morphology

The Skull of Australopithecus afarensis

_______________________________________________________________________________________________ 13 Copyright © 2005, Paleoanthropology Society. All rights reserved. Published for the PAS by Penn Press University of Pennsylvania The Skull of Australopithecus afarensis William H. Kimbel, Yoel Rak and Donald C. Johanson with a chapter by Ralph L. Holloway and Michael S. Yuan New York: Oxford Unive...

Australopithecus Afarensis and Human Evolution

Limb-size proportions in Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus.

Previous analyses have suggested that Australopithecus africanus possessed more apelike limb proportions than Australopithecus afarensis. However, due to the errors involved in estimating limb length and body size, support for this conclusion has been limited. In this study, we use a new Monte Carlo method to (1) test the hypothesis that A. africanus had greater upper:lower limb-size proportion...

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 73:41-63 (1987) Evolution of P3 Morphology in Australopithecus afarensis

The Australopithecus afarensis dental sample exhibits a wide range of variation, which is most notable in the morphology of the lower third premolar (P3). P3 morphology in the A. afarensis sample ranges from the primitive sectorial extreme in AL 128-23 to the derived, bicuspid (molarized) extreme in AL 333w-1. In this paper, the degree and patterning of variation of the 20 known A. afarensis P3...

Molar microwear textures and the diets of Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis.

Many researchers have suggested that Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis were among the earliest hominins to have diets that included hard, brittle items. Here we examine dental microwear textures of these hominins for evidence of this. The molars of three Au. anamensis and 19 Au. afarensis specimens examined preserve unobscured antemortem microwear. Microwear textures of ...