In humans it is at the bottom of the skull because our head is balanced on top of a vertical column.

In australopithecines it is also placed forward from the ape position, although not always as far forward as in humans.

(Creationist arguments) KP 29281, Australopithecus anamensis Discovered by Peter Nzube in 1994 at Kanapoi in Kenya (Leakey et al. This is a lower jaw with all its teeth which is about 4.0 million years old.

KP 29285, Australopithecus anamensis Discovered by Kamoya Kimeu in 1994 at Kanapoi in Kenya.

The find consisted of a full face, teeth and jaws, and an endocranial cast of the brain.

It is between 2 and 3 million years old, but it and most other South African fossils are found in cave deposits that are difficult to date.

Johanson believes they belong to a single species in which males were considerably larger than females.

They are however mostly fragmentary, often consisting of single bones or isolated teeth. The list is sorted by species, going from older to more recent species. A braincase is the cranium minus the face and upper jaw. Abbreviations: ER East (Lake) Rudolf, Kenya WT West (Lake) Turkana, Kenya KP Kanapoi, Kenya SK Swartkrans, South Africa Sts, Stw Sterkfontein, South Africa TM Transvaal Museum, South Africa OH Olduvai Hominid, Tanzania AL Afar Locality, Ethiopia ARA-VP Aramis Vertebrate Paleontology, Ethiopia BOU-VP Bouri Vertebrate Paleontology, Ethiopia TM Toros-Menalla, Chad TM 266-01-060-1, "Toumai", Sahelanthropus tchadensis Discovered by Ahounta Djimdoumalbaye in 2001 in Chad, in the southern Sahara desert. This is a mostly complete cranium with a small brain (between 320 and 380 cc). 2002, Wood 2002) It has many primitive apelike features, such as the small brainsize, along with others, such as the brow ridges and small canine teeth, which are characteristic of later hominids. Most remains are teeth, but there is also a partial lower jaw of a child, a partial cranium base, and partial arm bone from 2 individuals.The large rounded brain, canine teeth which were small and not apelike, and the position of the foramen magnum(*) convinced Dart that this was a bipedal human ancestor, which he named Australopithecus africanus (African southern ape).Although the discovery became famous, Dart's interpretation was rejected by the scientific community until the mid-1940's, following the discovery of other similar fossils.(Creationist arguments) AL 333 Site, "The First Family", Australopithecus afarensis?Discovered in 1975 by Donald Johanson's team at Hadar in Ethiopia (Johanson and Edey 1981). This find consisted of remains of at least 13 individuals of all ages. Scientists debate whether the specimens belong to one species, two or even three.The teeth of this skull showed it to be from an infant about 5 or 6 years old (it is now believed that australopithecines matured faster than humans, and that the Taung child was about 3).The brain size was 410 cc, and would have been around 440 cc as an adult.Their size and stride length indicate that they were about 140 cm (4'8") and 120 cm (4'0") tall.Many scientists claim that the footprints are effectively identical to those of modern humans (Tattersall 1993; Feder and Park 1989), while others claim the big toes diverged slightly (like apes) and that the toe lengths are longer than humans but shorter than in apes (Burenhult 1993). afarensis, because no other hominid species is known from that time, although some scientists disagree with that classification. This is a 70% complete skull of a large adult male, easily the most complete afarensis skull known, with a brain size of 550 cc.This fossil has considerable similarities with, and is possibly related to, the habiline fossil ER 1470.Taung 1, "Taung Child", Australopithecus africanus Discovered by Raymond Dart in 1924 at Taung in South Africa (Dart 1925).TM 1512, Australopithecus africanus (was Plesianthropus transvaalensis) Discovered by Robert Broom in 1936 at Sterkfontein in South Africa (Broom 1936).The second australopithecine fossil found, it consisted of parts of the face, upper jaw and braincase.Sts 5, "Mrs Ples", Australopithecus africanus Discovered by Robert Broom in 1947 at Sterkfontein in South Africa. It has usually been thought to be female, but there has been a recent claim that it is male. It is about 2.5 million years old, with a brain size of about 485 cc.(It has recently been claimed that the fossils Sts 5 and Sts 14 (see next entry) were from the same individual) Sts 14, Australopithecus africanus Discovered by Robert Broom and J. Robinson in 1947 at Sterkfontein (Broom and Robinson 1947). This find consisted of a nearly complete vertebral column, pelvis, some rib fragments, and part of a femur of a very small adult.