A small skull from Flores dated to the 20th century

Area of Science:

• Paleoanthropology
• Human Osteology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Cranial architecture variation is crucial for understanding human evolution and cerebralization.
• The study describes a modern human skull from the Ngada District, Flores, Indonesia, excavated in 1924.

Observation:

• The "Copenhagen Flores" (CF) male skull is radiocarbon-dated as modern.
• While small, its cranial measurements exceed those of the Liang Bua skull (LB1).
• CT scans reveal a cranial capacity of 1258 ml, within the modern human range but lower than Paleolithic values.

Findings:

• Metric cranial data suggest a Vietnamese rather than Chinese or White classification for the CF skull.
• The dentition displays the sundadont pattern, with tooth size comparable to Javanese and Balinese populations.
• Notable dental anomalies include premolar rotation and congenital absence of a third molar, similar to Rampasasa villagers and LB1.

Implications:

• The CF skull's features provide valuable data on modern human cranial and dental variation in Southeast Asia.
• Similarities in dental anomalies between the CF skull, Rampasasa villagers, and LB1 may indicate shared genetic or developmental factors.
• This research contributes to the ongoing discussion of hominin diversity and evolutionary pathways in the Indonesian archipelago.