Question

Which of the fossil man had cranial capacity near to modern man?
A. Australopithecus
B. Neanderthal
C. Homo erectus
D. Sinanthropus

Answer 1

Hint: The cranial capacity of the skull is a measure of the volume inside the skull of vertebrates that contain the brain. The most common measurement unit is the cubic centimetre. Fossils are the relics or traces of animals, plants and other creatures preserved in the past.

Complete answer: Neanderthal (1300-1600 cranial capacity) is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia up to about 40,000 years ago. Most likely, they died out as a result of competition or extermination by migrating early modern Europeans, or because of great climate change, disease or a combination of these factors. Neanderthalhad a long, low skull (compared to the more spherical skull of modern humans) with a distinctive, prominent eyebrow ridge above the eyes. Their faces were also distinctive. The middle part of the face protruded forward and was dominated by a very large, wide nose. They were believed to have a cranial capacity near to modern man. So, modern man’s cranial capacity is 1300-1600 c.c.
i. Australopithecus (600 cranial capacity), a group of extinct primates closely related if not the ancestors of modern human beings and known for a series of fossils found at multiple locations in eastern, north-central, and southern Africa.
ii. Homo erectus (800-1000 cranial capacity) is an extinct species of archaic man from the Pleistocene, whose earliest appearance was about 2 million years ago, and its specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo.
iii. Sinanthropus (850-1300 cranial capacity) is an archaic genus in the scientific classification system to which the early fossils of the Peking man, the Lantian Man, the Nanjing man, and the Yuanmou man were once assigned. All of them have now been reclassified as Homo erectus and the genus Sinanthropus is unused.
Thus, the correct answer is option B.

Note: Fossils are the dead remains of plants and organisms that had lived thousands of years ago. Fossils are important evidence of evolution because they show that life on earth was different from life on earth today.