Table 2: "Adult" values of Taung (adult value) 540 ex. 



cranial capacity in Sts 60 435 c.c. 



Australopithecus africanus a sts 5 480 c.c. 



Sts 7 1 480-520 c.c. 



Sts 19/58 530 c.c. 



MLD 37/38 480 c.c. 



Mean (n = 6) 494 c.c. 



° Based on data published by 19(59. 



mean for these 6 values I have used the middle value for Sts 71, namely 

 500 c.c. The resulting mean, 494 c.c, is lower than 2 previous estimates of 

 the A. africanus mean for which I have been responsible. 



In 1963, using 600 c.c. as the "adult value" for the Taung specimen, I 

 obtained a mean for the same 6 specimens of 504 c.c. Subsequently, using the 

 figures of Ashton and Spence (1958), I recomputed the adult value of Taung 

 as 562 c.c. (based on a juvenile value of 520 c.c.) (Tobias 1965a). In this 

 latest estimate I have used the same correction factor from Ashton and 

 Spence, but I have applied it to the lower juvenile value for Taung, 500 

 c.c, giving the new adult estimate of 540 c.c The effect has been a further 

 reduction of the A. africanus mean from 498 (Tobias 1967a) to 494 c.c 



In 1966 Robinson stated that he had had occasion to reinvestigate the 

 evidence relating to cranial capacity in the australopithecines. He found 

 that 6 estimates were possible for A. africanus, but unfortunately he did not 

 specify which specimens he based this statement on, nor whether they were 

 the same 6 as those previously listed in my 1963 tabulation. Of his 6 esti- 

 mates, he described 2 as very good ones and 4 as of lesser reliability. He 

 found a mean of only 430 c.c, and the population range, based on limits of 

 2.5 times the standard deviation on either side of the mean, was 300 to 550 

 c.c Robinson's new mean is lower than the previously accepted minimum 

 individual value of 435 c.c. for any available australopithecine cranium! 

 Indeed, his mean is practically the same as Holloway's minimum estimate of 

 428 c.c based on new reconstructions. Presumably, Robinson has had to 

 overthrow most of the published estimates. Unfortunately, he has not given 

 the all-important individual data on which his new mean is based.* Even 



* Holloway's (1970b) new estimates for the same 6 A. africanus crania as have been used by 

 myself give a mean capacity of 442 c.c, which is not quite as low as Robinson's new estimate but 

 is still appreciably lower than the previous mean of 494 c.c. The standard deviation for this 

 sample of 6 gracile australopithecine capacities is estimated by Holloway as 21.59 c.c, giving a 

 coefficient of variation of 4.88 per cent. Two of Holloway's reestimates are less reliable or 

 definitive than the others, namely those for Sts 19 and for MLD 37/38, which are, respectively, 

 94 c.c. and 45 c.c. less than the values listed above by myself. If we disregard the admittedly 



^ 20 



