Abstract
Taxonomic affiliation in Plio-Pleistocene fossil hominids is generally based on the analysis of cranial and dental material where species-specific characteristics are well recognised (Wood, 1991, 1992). With the exception of features such as the relatively long neck and small head in the australopithecine femur, taxon-specific features in the postcranial skeleton are largely unknown (Aiello and Dean, 1990). This situation is undoubtedly the result of the relative absence of associated skeletons in the Plio-Pleistocene fossil record and the general paucity of postcranial material. It follows that species-specific features in the postcranial skeleton have played only a secondary role in taxonomic studies and that it is often difficult to assign isolated postcranial fossils to specific species.
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Aiello, L., Wood, B., Key, C., Wood, C. (1998). Laser Scanning and Paleoanthropology. In: Strasser, E., Fleagle, J.G., Rosenberger, A.L., McHenry, H.M. (eds) Primate Locomotion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0092-0_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0092-0_13
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