Misc.

 

BH-023. Proconsul Africanus

14 to 23 MYA. Discovered by Mary Leaky in 1948 on Rusinga Island, Kenya, this skull does not have brow ridges (unlike modern apes) but does have a projecting face. It is considered a dental ape because the teeth possess apelike features. However, its limb skeleton shares monkey-like features. Walker reclassified Proconsul africanus, a Miocene hominoid, as a heseloni in 1993. 

 

Proconsul Africanus

(SOMSO reconstruction)

14 to 23 MYA. The Proconsul africanus skull was discovered by Mary Leakey in 1948 on Rusinga Island, Kenya. This specimen, based on the 1948 Leakey discovery, is the most complete Proconsul africanus cranium to date. Alan Walker reclassified Proconsul africanus, a Miocene hominoid, as heseloni in 1993. The skull is characterized by the absence of browridges (unlike in modern apes) and the presence of a projecting face. Members of this genus are considered dental apes because their teeth possessed ape-like features. Their teeth also indicate that they were primarily a fruit-eating species. On the other hand, their limb skeletons share monkey-like features. The evidence provided by a wide range of skeletal remains points toward considerable variation within the genus Proconsul, their body size extending from the size of a small monkey to a female gorilla. They also inhabited a variety of environments from rainforests to open woodlands. The original specimen upon which this skull is based (Proconsul africanus) was found distorted due to sedimentary compression—14 to 23 million years of applied stress to this small skull!

 

Hominid Skull

BH-025. AEGYPTOPITHECUS Zeuxis

Believed to be from the earliest family of Man.

 

Fraud

Piltdown Man

The so-called Dawson’s “Dawn skull” which had been unearthed in England by Charles Dawson in 1912. In 1953 two anatomists and an archaeologist exposed Piltdown Man as a hoax. The “find” turned out to be a modern human cranium and mandible of a modern orangutan, buried along with the bones of the extinct animals.

 

Gigantopithecus blacki 

BC-140-J. Jaw

Whether Gigantopithecus blacki, known today as the mysterious Bigfoot, continues to exist hidden in forests today remains a mystery; however, there is no question that a giant primate existed in southern China half a million to a million years ago. Gigantopithecus is estimated to have been about ten feet tall and weighed about 1,200 pounds. Too large to be arboreal, Gigantopithecus was a ground-dwelling ape that most likely walked on its knuckles or fists.