STS 14 is a

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ized partial skeleton of the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

Australopithecus africanus ''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontei ...

''. It was discovered at

Sterkfontein Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of K ...

, South Africa by

Robert Broom Robert Broom Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (30 November 1866 6 April 1951) was a British- South African medical doctor and palaeontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University ...

and John T. Robinson in August 1947, and is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old. Some scientists have proposed that STS 14 may have come from the same individual as

STS 5 __NOTOC__ Mrs. Ples is the popular nickname for the most complete skull of an ''Australopithecus africanus'' ever found in South Africa. Many ''Australopithecus'' fossils have been found near Sterkfontein, about northwest of Johannesburg, in a r ...

though that fossil is considered only 2.15 million years old.

Description

The specimen consists of a

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

vertebral column The spinal column, also known as the vertebral column, spine or backbone, is the core part of the axial skeleton in vertebrates. The vertebral column is the defining and eponymous characteristic of the vertebrate. The spinal column is a segmente ...

and fragmentary

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

and

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

. Notable characteristics include the distinctly human-like shape of its pelvic blades, indicating a type of

bipedalism Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) Limb (anatomy), limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from ...

. This find was the first to demonstrate, without a doubt, pre-Homo bipedality. Curiously, the specimen has six

lumbar vertebrae The lumbar vertebrae are located between the thoracic vertebrae and pelvis. They form the lower part of the back in humans, and the tail end of the back in quadrupeds. In humans, there are five lumbar vertebrae. The term is used to describe t ...

, more than either most humans, who have five, or modern apes, which may have five or fewer. The specimen's

sacrum The sacrum (: sacra or sacrums), in human anatomy, is a triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part of the pelvic cavity, ...

contains an unfused intervertebral disk between the first and second sacral vertebrae, suggesting that the individual died before reaching maturity.

References

External links

* * *
Maropeng - The Cradle of Humankind
Official Website
UNESCO - Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs
Australopithecus fossils Quaternary fossil record Archaeological discoveries in South Africa 1947 archaeological discoveries Archaeology of Southern Africa {{Paleo-hominin-stub

Description

See also

References

External links