On the endocranial cast of the adolescent sinanthropus skull

Abstract

The cast to be described in this paper is that of the adolescent skull specimen from Locus E of the Choukoutien deposit, which has already been the subject of detailed report (Black, 1931). Earlier it was anticipated that the endocranial cast of both this specimen and that of the adult skull from Locus D would be described together, but as circumstances have retarded the work of restoration on the latter specimen, the present report will no longer be delayed. Cranial Capacity. Under this heading in the description of the skull (loc. cit., p. 45) it was estimated from the crude preliminary trial measurements that the endocranial volume of the restored specimen would be in excess of 1000 c. c. This prediction has, however, not been confirmed and the volume of the restored endocranial cast has now been determined with accuracy to be 964.4 ± 0.27 c. C. Since the accuracy of any determination of skull volume is largely dependent upon the method employed it may be of advantage to describe the technique by which the above result has been obtained.