МАЭ № 6080-2

Australopithecus (infantile member of the spices Australopithecus africanus)

1938 ?

plaster

Australopithecus (infantile member of the genus Australopithecus africanus). In 1924, a fragmented cranium was found near the Taung railway station in South Africa (preserved parts include facial bones and the frontal bone, the remaining parts have been reconstructed). The individual was an infantile member of a previously unknown primate species. Its age is estimated at 3-5. All deciduous teeth are preserved and the first permanent ones began to erupt. The construction of the Australopithecus cranium is intermediate between that of ape and human crania. For his reconstruction Gerasimov used a cast owned by the Moscow University Museum of Anthropology as well as data on soft tissue thickness in chimpanzees and children aged 3-4. Reconstructing the ear was more difficult. Gerasimov rendered it generally ape-like but showing a human tendency. The hair too is ape-like. Despite that, the Taung Australopithecine displays a marked similarity to human children.

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