Cranial growth in Homo erectus: How credible are the Ngandong juveniles?

Confusion exists regarding the developmental ages of numerous Asian and sou theast Asian Homo erectus fossils because of Weidenreich's contention that Pithecanthropus fused its sutures prematurely relative to H. sapiens. I ree valuate the cranial developmental ages of the Ngandong "juveniles" (2, 5, 8 , 9) based on a series of indicators of youth (superstructure development, suture development/fusion, and cranial thickness) and cranial contours. The Ngandong juveniles are compared with H. sapiens adults (n = 281) and subad ults (n = 81) and with Ngandong and other H. erectus adults (n = 20) and su badults (n = 4). Cranial contours are assessed using bivariate plots of are vs. chord measurements. All indicators suggest that Ngandong 5 and 9 are a dults, whereas Ngandong 8 is an older juvenile or young adult and Ngandong 2 is a juvenile with a developmental age range of greater than 6 and less t han 11 years. In addition, adult cranial contours and the pattern of contou r development are similar between Ngandong adults and other H. erectus adul ts. There is nothing in the cranial contour data to suggest that Ngandong i s, despite a relatively large brain, transitional in vault shape between H. erectus and H. sapiens. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.