Sahenlantrhopus tchadensis: Hominin #1 - 1/88 Limited Edition

Format: 2160 x 2160 px - MP4 Looping video - 150 dpi

This Hominin bust by the Smithsonian paleoartist John Gurche is built with clay over a cast or 3D print of an ancient skull, from which a silicone mold is taken and the face painted into the mold. Acrylic eyes, and bear or human hair implanted manually and individually.

Materials: clay, casting, 3D printing, silicone, acrylic, paint, bear hair, human hair.

Medium: digital photography, post-production coloring, animation.

In 2001 a nearly complete skull was discovered in Chad among animal bones thought to be between six and seven million years old. The skull is very apelike, but displays two features that align it with the hominins. The canine teeth are small, especially if the skull is male, as suggested by its massive brow ridges. And the hole where the spinal cord exits the skull is at the center of the skull’s base, implying that the head was held on a vertical neck, as with upright posture (apes have this hole further toward the rear of the skull).

These are the same two characteristics that helped Raymond Dart identify the first-known skull of Australopithecus as a hominin. This oldest known hominin skull is so apelike that there is debate about its hominin status. Could its small canine teeth be because it represents a female? Could it have been reconstructed improperly so that the hole in the skull’s base should be further back? A thigh bone found with the skull shows no sign of coming from a biped. The plot thickens.

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