The Sambungmacan (Sm) 3 calvaria, discovered on Java in 1977, was illegally
removed from Indonesia in 1998 and appeared in New York City in early 1999
at the Maxilla & Mandible, Ltd. natural history shop. Here we undertake an
analysis of its phylogenetic and systematic position using geometric morph
ometrics and comparative morphology. The coordinates of points in the sagit
tal plane from glabella to opisthion were resampled to yield "lines" of 50
semi-landmarks. Coordinates of glabella, bregma, lambda, inion, and opisthi
on were also collected and analyzed separately. Casts of Homo erectus fossi
ls from Indonesia, China, and Kenya and of "archaic H. sapiens" from Kabwe
and Petralona, as well as 10 modern human crania, were used as the primary
comparative sample. The modern humans were well separated from the fossils
in a graphical superimposition of Procrustes-aligned semi landmarks as well
as in principal component and canonical discriminant analyses. In all of t
hese, Sm 3 falls intermediate between the fossil and modern groups. Morphol
ogical comparisons of Sm 3 with a selection of Homo erectus fossils reveale
d its greatest similarity to specimens from Ngandong and the Sm 1 calvaria.
Compared to all other H. erectus, Sm 3 was distinctive in its more vertica
l supratoral plane, less anteriorly projecting glabella and less sharply an
gled occiput. In these features it was somewhat similar to modern humans. I
t is not yet possible to determine if this similarity implies an evolutiona
ry relationship or (more likely) individual or local populational variation
. Several features of Sm 3 (small size, gracile supraorbital torus and lack
of angular torus, and position in principal component analysis) suggest th
at it was a female. The use of geometric morphometrics provides a means to
statistically test the shapes of such fossils in a manner not easily duplic
ated by other methods. The intermediate position of Sm 3 between fossil and
modern samples in several different subanalyses exemplifies the value of t
his approach. Anat Rec 262:380-397, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.