Paranthropus boisei: cranium

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Object Details

Discovered by

Richard Leakey and H. Mutua

Age

About 1.7 million years old

Is this an original object?

Summary

KNM-ER 406 is a nearly complete adult male Paranthropus boisei. It has the facial and cranial features typical of the species such as massive cheek teeth, and the widely flaring zygomatic arches with a forward placed connection to the other facial bones, and large cheek bones supported powerful chewing muscles - the latter two features giving it a "dish-shaped" face. Other muscles extended from his jaw to the sagittal crest at the top of his head. The cranial capacity of this skull has been estimated at 510 cubic centimeters.

P. boisei commonly ate fruit and other soft foods. But these early humans were also able to crush and grind tough plant foods during difficult times.

Date of discovery

1969

Original Object Identifier

KNM-ER 406

Location of Discovery

Koobi Fora, Kenya

Site

Koobi Fora, Kenya

Species

Paranthropus boisei

Data Source

NMNH - Anthropology Dept.

Metadata Usage

CC0

Record ID

dpo_3d_200076