抄録
The skull of Proconsul heseloni (KNM-RU-7290A) is three-dimensionally reconstructed in a virtual environment for morphological analyses of the evolution of Miocene hominoid skulls by the means of Computer Assisted Anthropology. The volume of the fossil is extracted from the CT-scan images and the surface is approximated by very tiny triangles. Such a computerized technique enables visualization, manipulation and measurements of its 3 D shape in a computer. Moreover, a replica of the virtually constructed model can be created by stereo-lithography.
Taking advantage of the computerized system, non-homogeneous taphonomic deformation of the fossil is corrected based on skull’s basic geometry, that is, bilateral symmetry with respect to its midsagittal plane. Morphological landmarks of the skull are transferred so as to fulfill the geometrical conditions, and the entire shape of the skull is transformed according to the movements of the landmarks using a thin-plate spline function. Although the reconstruction is still incomplete due to inherent lack of information that can be extracted from the fossil for reversal of deformation, tentative results indicate efficacy of the proposed computerized system for advanced morphometrical and biomechanical studies of fossil skulls.
