that an alteration in the orientation of the specimen would lead to a very 

 different interpretation as to the size of the cranial vault (Robinson 1954, 

 p. 191). In fact, he showed that MLD 1 could be so orientated as to be 

 "virtually indistinguishable" from that of Sts 5 from Sterkfontein. Although 

 Robinson's diagram (ibid., Figure 5, p. 191) shows that the fit is not quite 

 perfect, his general point seems well taken, namely that the vault of which 

 MLD 1 was the hinder end could not have differed much in size (and 

 capacity) from that of Sts 5, which has a capacity of 480 c.c. However, owing 

 to the incompleteness of MLD 1, it would seem unwise at this stage to 

 include any estimate for it in the list of fairly reliable cranial capacities. 



Summary on specimens from Taung, Sterkfontein, and Maka- 

 pansgat. The preceding 6 specimens— 1 from Taung, 4 from Sterkfontein, 

 and 1 from Makapansgat— have all been attributed to one species, the gracile 

 form of australopithecine, A. africanus (Robinson 1954). The 6 "adult 

 values," based on published data, are given in Table 2. In computing the 



_i_ 



CMS 

 Figure 10: Endocranial surface of the parieto-occipital portion of an austra- 

 lopithecine calvaria from Makapansgat. This specimen, MLD 1, was 

 the first hominid fragment to be recovered from the northernmost of 

 the 5 South African australopithecine sites. 



19 K 



