STS 71 is a fossilized skull of the species ''
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 in
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
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
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 ...
in 1947. In 1972 John Wallace connected STS 71 with STS 36, a lower jaw found in the same layer, by matching the wear patterns on the teeth.
It is estimated to be 2.5 million years old.
Its characteristics include a smaller cranium and facial features than other female Australopithecines finds yet the size of the teeth indicate this specimen to be male. The face shows forward projection and the position of the temporal lines high on the cranium indicate large chewing muscles. The brain is 428cc.
See also
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List of human fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of Hominini, hominin fossils and Skeleton, remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the Chimpanzee–human last common ancest ...
*
List of fossil sites
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of ...
''(with link directory)''
*
List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''
References
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External links
Metadata of STS 71 on NESPOS
Australopithecus fossils
Archaeological discoveries in South Africa
1947 archaeological discoveries
Archaeology of Southern Africa
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