Stature-at-death of KNM-WT 15000 |
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Authors: | J C Ohman C Wood B Wood R H Crompton M M Günther L Yu R Savage W Wang |
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Institution: | (1) Hominid Palaeontology Research Group, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 3GE Liverpool, U.K.;(2) Present address: School of Biological & Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, L3 3AF Liverpool, U.K.;(3) Durston House School, 12 Castlebar Road, Ealing, W5 2DR London, U.K.;(4) Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, 20052 Washington, D.C., U.S.A. |
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Abstract: | The specimen KNM-WT 15000 is an exceptionally complete 1.53 Myr juvenile skeleton of Homo erectus from West Turkana, Kenya.
It therefore provides a unique opportunity to examine stature estimates of fossil hominids based strictly on long bone lengths.
Using recovered axial and appendicular elements of KNM-WT 15000 that contributed to stature during life, we conclude that
KNM-WT 15000 was much shorter at time-of-death than previous estimates that used only appendicular elements. We conservatively
estimate stature-at-death at about 147 cm, although this individual could have been as short as 141 cm. Because long bone
based estimates of stature also imply the axial skeletal proportion, our new stature estimate stems from the recognition of
axial/appendicular disproportion in the individual KNM-WT 15000. It is possible that the peripubescent age-at-death of this
specimen, and any resulting differential maturity between the appendicular and axial skeleton, may have contributed to previous
overestimates of stature-at-death. However, the possibility that this individual was abnormal, as implied by axial/appendicular
disproportion, remains to be fully tested. Regardless, these results suggest that some interpretations of the biology of early
African Homo erectus, largely based upon KNM-WT 15000, should be viewed with caution.
5 Primate Evolution and Morphology Group, Department of Human |
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Keywords: | Early AfricanHomo erectus axial skeleton appendicular skeleton stature estimates platyspondylia |
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