New Australopithecus femora from East Rudolf, Kenya

Abstract

New fossil femora attributed to Australopithecus from East Rudolf, Kenya, form the basis for a three-dimensional reconstruction of a complete femur. The reconstruction and the known fossils are compared with the femora of Homo sapiens. Although many of the features of the fossil bones fall within the overall ranges to be found in modern man, there seems, nevertheless, to be a distinctive total pattern in the femoral anatomy of Australopithecus. Biomechanical explanations for this pattern may be possible when other postcranial bones can be reconstructed with the same degree of certainty as the femur.