Hominid skull morphology

Tyrannical · #1 by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 12:48 pm

It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

Warren Dew · #2 by **Warren Dew** » Apr 08, 2010 1:40 pm

Tyrannical wrote:Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

All but 1, 2, and 3 lack brow ridges and have modern human temporal shapes, so I'd guess they are at least Homo sapiens; 2 at least has the modern temporal shape, so it may be Homo sapiens as well. No guesses as to differences between archaic sapiens and fully modern sapiens; I can't tell the difference reliably.

Can we have the labels now?

Spearthrower · #3 by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 1:42 pm

Tyrannical wrote:It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

You should have put this in a different thread as something like this can be very interesting and an excellent educational opportunity. The point still needs to be made though that these are largely idealised constructs and are not actually representative of any given population.

Aside from that, I don't think it's fair if I play - but I will be happy to PM you my answers if you like? I know which ones are modern, I know which ones aren't human.... but there is one I am not sure precisely what it is! :grin:

Tyrannical · #4 by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 2:06 pm

Warren Dew wrote:

Can we have the labels now?

No. Which is why I sent you a PM with the answers :lol:

Spearthrower shouldn't need any help

At some point, I'd like to do a big topic on this, but finding the pictures is tough. These are all forensic models, so they all have that like "new" white look to them.

Spearthrower · #5 by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 2:17 pm

If I'd got any wrong, I would have been ashamed! I spent fooking months on comparative human and primate anatomy!!

Tyrannical · #6 by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 2:23 pm

Spearthrower wrote:If I'd got any wrong, I would have been ashamed! I spent fooking months on comparative human and primate anatomy!!

And he didn't :lol:

Unless he cheated

Spearthrower · #7 by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 2:34 pm

Tyrannical wrote:
Spearthrower wrote:If I'd got any wrong, I would have been ashamed! I spent fooking months on comparative human and primate anatomy!!

And he didn't

Unless he cheated

I could tell all but 6 at a glance, and I knew it was modern human, just couldn't be sure where from.

Segundo · #8 by **Segundo** » Apr 08, 2010 3:04 pm

Tyrannical wrote:It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

The game is pretty hard. I would hazard a guess that 4 is ???; 5 is ??? and 6 is a ??? (maybe better to say ????) skull. Maybe 7 is an ???, who are very primitive, biologically speaking that is.

This game illustrates that it is dumb to show people a European skull and say, "Look this is a Homo sapien".

Tyrannical · #9 by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 3:35 pm

Segundo wrote:
Tyrannical wrote:It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

The game is pretty hard. I would hazard a guess that 4 is ???????; 5 is ???????? and 6 is a ?????? skull. Maybe 7 is ??????

This game illustrates that it is dumb to show people a European skull and say, "Look this is a Homo sapien".

Well thanks a fucking lot for spoiling the guessing game!

Segundo · **#10** by **Segundo** » Apr 08, 2010 3:48 pm

Oh sorry. I should have read more carefully.

Tyrannical · **#11** by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 3:53 pm

Segundo wrote:Oh sorry. I should have read more carefully.

Yeah

How about you edit out your correct answers so more can play :lol:

Spearthrower · **#12** by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 4:02 pm

Segundo wrote:
Tyrannical wrote:It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

The game is pretty hard. I would hazard a guess that 4 is Mongoloid; 5 is European and 6 is a Negroid (maybe better to say black?) skull. Maybe 7 is an Australian Aborigional, who are very primitive, biologically speaking that is.

This game illustrates that it is dumb to show people a European skull and say, "Look this is a Homo sapien".

Instead of 'primitive', the word typically used is 'archaic', as in, their skulls possess archaic traits.

Warren Dew · **#13** by **Warren Dew** » Apr 08, 2010 4:03 pm

Tyrannical wrote:Well thanks a fucking lot for spoiling the guessing game!

The purpose of the thread is not to play games; the purpose of the thread is to provide and exchange information. People who want to play the game can decide their answers before reading beyond that post.

Edit: this doesn't apply to the new thread, I guess.

Spearthrower · **#14** by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 4:03 pm

Segundo wrote:
Tyrannical wrote:It's time to play, Spot the Modern Human!

Who is a modern human? Who is extinct archaic human? Can you tell them apart?

The game is pretty hard. I would hazard a guess that 4 is Mongoloid; 5 is European and 6 is a Negroid (maybe better to say black?) skull. Maybe 7 is an Australian Aborigional, who are very primitive, biologically speaking that is.

This game illustrates that it is dumb to show people a European skull and say, "Look this is a Homo sapien".

What traits did you note to arrive at those guesses?

Warren Dew · **#15** by **Warren Dew** » Apr 08, 2010 4:07 pm

Spearthrower wrote:What traits did you note to arrive at those guesses?

I'm curious what traits you used, too!

Also, any comments on the longitudinal bulge visible at the crown of #7 and to a lesser extent #5? I'm trying to figure out what part of the brain that would correspond to, and I'm not coming up with a coherent answer.

katja z · **#16** by **katja z** » Apr 08, 2010 4:11 pm

I guessed the answers by checking the Bone Clones site :dance:

Tyrannical · **#17** by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 4:13 pm

Warren Dew wrote:
Tyrannical wrote:Well thanks a fucking lot for spoiling the guessing game!

The purpose of the thread is not to play games; the purpose of the thread is to provide and exchange information. People who want to play the game can decide their answers before reading beyond that post.

You got a PM with the answers already

I'd have revealed the answers in a bit anyways, after more people guessed.

This was just a quick simple quiz anyways, the next one in a new topic will be harder once I have a chance to research it better.

Oh, and Spearthrower has his Masters in this topic, so he has a bit of an unfair advantage.

Spearthrower · **#18** by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 4:16 pm

Warren Dew wrote:
Spearthrower wrote:What traits did you note to arrive at those guesses?

I'm curious what traits you used, too!

Also, any comments on the longitudinal bulge visible at the crown of #7 and to a lesser extent #5? I'm trying to figure out what part of the brain that would correspond to, and I'm not coming up with a coherent answer.

I'd be happy to write them all out in full, but it will take a long time! Might be better sent by PM. Bear in mind that I made it clear to Tyrannical from the outset by PM that

Modern ones? I used to have a very large data set of them (20,000+) with glossy colour pictures.... but the problem is that, naturally, there is no one single representative skull for any given population.

...

Obviously, there are general characteristics that are distinct between populations of different geographical regions (the jaw bone is a perfect example), but they can't really be drawn down to a single representative form that can be forwarded as the model version of a given ethnic group.

I'd be very cautious of any single samples you see offered as they are, unquestionably, idealised constructs, and as idealised constructs you have to be aware of the possibility of some kind of bias being displayed.

Having laid that out as a disclaimer, it is still possible to look at various morphological traits to establish a likely ethnicity to a skull, these descriptors are used in forensic anthropology to hopefully identify the nationality of the corpse.

In a following PM I wrote, I said:

Australian aboriginals have a massive diversity of skull morphology, but they nearly all show very distinct characteristics than 'typical' modern Homo sapiens skulls, as seen in the aggregate. The best word to describe their skulls' morphology is 'archaic', in that it has a number of traits that were more typical of ancient populations of Homo sapiens. Points of distinction are:

generally robust cranium
supraorbital torus
saggital crest
sloped/regressive frontal bone
occipital bun (nuchal torus)
post-orbital constriction
zygomatic flare
broad nasal cavity

I can also point to australian aboriginal skulls that are barely distinguishable from idealised african skulls though, so, again, I can only caution drawing too much from it. Generally though, you are right... I could distinctualise an australian aboriginal skull from most of the rest of the world.

These are the traits that quite certainly point to skull 7 being Australian Aboriginal (sorry Tyrannical, I think the game would have been better in another thread anyway!). Other geographical populations are much more difficult to be so certain of due to constant gene flow over millenia, while aborigines were relatively isolated.

Spearthrower · **#19** by **Spearthrower** » Apr 08, 2010 4:24 pm

Warren wrote:
Also, any comments on the longitudinal bulge visible at the crown of #7 and to a lesser extent #5? I'm trying to figure out what part of the brain that would correspond to, and I'm not coming up with a coherent answer.

The sagittal crest indicates strong jaw muscles rather than anything to do with the brain, as it is the attachment point for temporalis muscle. It also tends to indicate that the specimen is an adult as it develops with the temporalis. Generally, the crest is found in carnivores, but it depends largely on what's being eaten. In gorillas and orangutans, it is only really prominent in the males.

Check out Paranthropus aethiopicus for a fantastic example.... it's like a built in mohican!

Tyrannical · **#20** by **Tyrannical** » Apr 08, 2010 4:32 pm

I took all the skull examples for a company that sells them (duh) for forensic anthropology. You can look on the website easily enough that I got the pics from. Even better, if you click on the description each has a link to a PDF file with an analysis.

Hey spearthrower, are you brave enough to enlighten us on what Anthropology's dirty little secret is before I go to Zzzzzzzz today? I'll give you a hint, it's close to 50% 50% and funny :lol: