Ancient pelvis provides development clues

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A 1.2 million-year-old pelvis found in Ethiopia provides new insight into the size of ancient newborns, an Indiana University paleoanthropologist said.

Sileshi Semaw said the pelvis, found in 2001, provides more accurate information about the Homo erectus female pelvic inlet and therefore the size of their newborns. Semaw said researchers speculate early man was better equipped to produce larger-brained babies than previously thought, Indiana University said Thursday in a release.

Semaw, who discovered the fossil pelvis in Ethiopia, said it appears the birth canal of the ancient woman was more than 30 percent larger than earlier estimates.

"The female Homo erectus pelvic anatomy is basically unknown," Semaw said. "And as far as the fossil pelvis of ancestral hominids goes, all we've had is Lucy (dated at 3.2 million years and also found in Ethiopia), and she is very much farther back in time from modern humans."

Semaw said scientists had thought early adult Homo erectus females had smaller birth canals that would would produce offspring with only a limited neonatal brain size.