Australopithecus afarensis: Composite Reconstruction
Species: Australopithecus afarensis
Age: c.a. 3.5 million years
Date of Discovery: N/A
Location: Hadar, Ethiopia
Discovered by: N/A
A. afarensis Composite Reconstruction: frontal view
A. afarensis Composite Reconstruction: 3/4 view
A. afarensis Composite Reconstruction: side view
A. afarensis Composite Reconstruction: upper dentition

The cast to the left and below represents a composite reconstruction from several specimens of the early human species Australopithecus afarensis. The fossil material was recovered from the Hadar Formation in the Afar depression of Ethiopia. The reconstruction was originally proposed in 1984 by Bill Kimbel, Tim White and Don Johanson (*) based on what fossils were known by 1979. With subsequent fossil discoveries, particularly from the AL 333 locality, this hypothesis was in need of revision. In 1988, White and Kimbel (**) proposed a new reconstruction. The cast shown here is of the updated reconstruction

The reconstruction incorporates 12 specimens of A. afarensis, such as AL 333 - 45. The specimens included in the reconstruction are shown in natural color, with reconstructed portions in white. Much of the reconstruction is based on the principle of bilateral symmetry. However, data from many other specimens have been incorporated into the reconstruction. Therefore, what appear to be large gaps in the reconstruction (for example the forehead) are not wild speculation, but rather informed hypotheses based upon other morphologies observed in other A. afarensis individuals. This new reconstruction provides a glimpse as to what the adult A. afarensis skull might have looked like.

New and more complete specimens of A. afarensis are helping us better understand the morphology of the skull of this early human species. Recent work on a new reconstruction may indicate that the morphology of the A. afarensis skull was much more like that seen in the so-called "robust" australopithicines. As such, here at the Human Origins Program, we are eagerly await the latest findings on this important early human species.

A. afarensis Composite Reconstruction: lower dentition

* Kimbel, B, White, T and Johanson, D (1984) Cranial morphology of Australopithecus afarensis: A comparative study based on a composite reconstruction of the adult skull. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Vol. 64 pp. 337-388.

** White, T and Kimbel, B, (1988) A revised reconstruction of the adult skull of Australopithecus afarensis. Journal of Human Evolution Vol. 17 pp. 545-550.

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