Description and Comparative Morphology of the Hofmeyr Skull

This chapter provides a description of the preserved and reconstructed morphology of the Hofmeyr skull. Comparisons with recent sub-Saharan African, Later Stone Age (LSA) Khoesan and Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic (UP) samples are undertaken for over 40 linear dimensions and indices, and 20 non-metrical (morphoscopic) morphological features. The neurocranium and facial skeleton are large and robust. Metrical comparisons reveal an overall similarity of Hofmeyr to penecontemporaneous Late Pleistocene Eurasian crania. Hofmeyr exceeds the means for male sub-Saharan African population samples in bmore than 25 diameters, although in almost all cases Hofmeyr falls within the upper 95% confidence limits of these sample. In some instances, such as frontal breadth and orbit height, the Hofmeyr values are similar to the sub-Saharan African sample means. As expected, given the comparatively small size of LSA and recent Khoesan crania, the Hofmeyr measurements exceed these sample means by a considerable margin, although some LSA crania exceed Hofmeyr in several dimensions. Most morphoscopic features evinced by Hofmeyr are similar to those expressed most commonly by sub-Saharan African populations; in some instances, they conform to those that tend to characterize Khoesan crania. These include a pentaganoid neurocranial configuration, a midline frontal eminence (metopic keel), an inflated mons temporosphenoidalis and aGlenoid Fossa shallow mandibular fossa and weak postglenoid process. At the same time, Hofmeyr tends to differs from Khoesan and more closely resemble other South African populations in some features. It is perhaps not unreasonable to expect that the Hofmeyr individual shared the genomic signature of the Late Pleistocene Khoesan, and that this was expressed by at least some attendant phenotypic morphologies, with the Khoesan having undergone further subsequent evolution for small body size in the Holocene.