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Lot 4399
CAST REPLICA OF THE PARTIAL SKULL OF A HOMINID FOUND BY MARY LEAKEY
16 May 2018, 10:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$150 inc. premium
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CAST REPLICA OF THE PARTIAL SKULL OF A HOMINID FOUND BY MARY LEAKEY
Plaster replica of mammal primate Hominoidea hominidae, Paranthropus boisei (Leakey) Zinjanthropus boisei
Early to mid Pleistocene, about 1.5 million years ago
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Collected by Mary Leakey, 1959
Ref:. Tanzania National Museum Collection No. OH5
From the 1930s until 1959, Louis and Mary Leakey excavated at Olduvai Gorge. They found an abundance of stone tools over the years but the first evidence of the hominid who may have made them was only found on July 17, 1959. Careful excavation revealed most of a skull of a robust australopithecine. The cranium had been broken into hundreds of pieces requiring patient assembly to recreate the skull. It had contained a brain slightly more than a third the size of a modern human brain (530 cc compared with 1400cc). This creature was similar to the South African Australopithecus rubustus, but was even bigger. He was named Zinjanthropus boisei, "East African man", but is now more properly called Australopitecus boisei. Living primarily on roots and nuts, males averaged 5 ft 4 inches in height and 108 pounds while females averaged 4 ft 1 inch in height and 75 pounds. They were noted for their specialized skull adapted for chewing; observe the strong sagittal crest anchoring the large chewing muscles (temporalis muscles). Length 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 5 1/2 in
Early to mid Pleistocene, about 1.5 million years ago
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Collected by Mary Leakey, 1959
Ref:. Tanzania National Museum Collection No. OH5
From the 1930s until 1959, Louis and Mary Leakey excavated at Olduvai Gorge. They found an abundance of stone tools over the years but the first evidence of the hominid who may have made them was only found on July 17, 1959. Careful excavation revealed most of a skull of a robust australopithecine. The cranium had been broken into hundreds of pieces requiring patient assembly to recreate the skull. It had contained a brain slightly more than a third the size of a modern human brain (530 cc compared with 1400cc). This creature was similar to the South African Australopithecus rubustus, but was even bigger. He was named Zinjanthropus boisei, "East African man", but is now more properly called Australopitecus boisei. Living primarily on roots and nuts, males averaged 5 ft 4 inches in height and 108 pounds while females averaged 4 ft 1 inch in height and 75 pounds. They were noted for their specialized skull adapted for chewing; observe the strong sagittal crest anchoring the large chewing muscles (temporalis muscles). Length 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 5 1/2 in