Credit: R. J. CLARKE

The discovery of a complete skull of the hominid Australopithecus, associated with abundant limb bone material, is announced this week. The picture shows the exposed left side of the skull. The jaws, with a complete set of teeth in occlusion, can clearly be seen. As R. J. Clarke of the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg reports (South African Journal of Science 94, 460-463; 1998), the skull is still embedded in the Member 2 breccia in the Silberberg Grotto of the Sterkfontein Caves near Krugersdorp, South Africa, and more finds are likely. The taxonomic status of the fossil has yet to be determined, although it is believed to be more than three million years old.

In 1994, Clarke found four articulating foot bones of Australopithecusin rocks from the same site. Eight more foot and lower leg bones turned up last year, all from the same individual. This discovery prompted Clarke to send his colleagues Nkwane Molefe and Stephen Motsumi into the Silberberg Grotto — like Prince Charming, looking for the girl whose foot would fit a glass slipper — to search for in situ remains that would fit neatly onto fragments already found. Cinderella duly turned up, in the form of two lower legs arranged side by side, as if the individual had been buried face-down in the breccia. Further work produced parts of an upper arm and the skull as illustrated. Clarke speculates that the rest of the skeleton is still buried under breccia.