МАЭ № 6080-3

Sinanthropus (male representative of the species Homo erectus)

1938

plaster

The first fragments of hominin crania were discovered by Pei Wenzhong at the Choukoutien cave near Beijing in 1929. These hominins were much more advanced than the Australopithecines, specifically, their brain was much larger, although still smaller than in anatomically modern humans. The cranium displays a number of archaic traits such as low vault, sloping forehead, robust supraorbital torus, large mandible without chin, etc. All the fossils relating to Sinanthropus were lost during World War II, only casts of various cranial fragments remained. They were used by Gerasimov for an approximate reconstruction, made in 1934. As he admits, it is very inaccurate since it combines features of various individuals, and several details are undocumented. The paucity of data has resulted in a number of mistakes; thus, in Gerasimov’s words, the face of Sinanthropus appears too robust and primitive. These mistakes were corrected in later reconstructions.

Anthropological plastic reconstructions, lifetime masks. 19th - 20th centuries