The Taung endocast and the lunate sulcus: a rejection of the hypothesis of its anterior position.

Using an independent method of direct tape-arc measurements on six chimpanzee brain casts, it is shown that Falk's (1980, 1983) claims regarding an anterior pongidlike placement of a lunate sulcus on the Taung specimen remain unconfirmed. Thus Holloway's (1981) stereoplotting method of testing Falk's hypothesis is independently confirmed, using the actual specimens rather than photographs of them. Falk's (1980) placement of a lunate sulcus falls at least 2.5 standard deviations anterior to a position expected on the basis of a Pan location.