A Craniofacial Reconstruction of Ardipithecus (A. ramidus ARA VP-6/500)

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2026-3/436-447

Authors

Keywords:

Ardipithecus ramidus, ARA VP-6/500 skull, Ethiopia, anthropological reconstruction, appearance

Abstract

This work focuses on reconstructing the appearance of Ardipithecus (Ardipithecus ramidus ARA VP-6/500). The study of the skull and subsequent facial reconstruction show that the appearance of Ardipithecus did not resemble apes, such as chimpanzees, but rather monkeys. The study is based on unique materials obtained by the author through the analysis of soft tissues of the green monkey's head. The reconstructed Ardipithecus appearance is characterized by a very narrow and sloping forehead, a poorly developed brow ridge, a low and medium-wide face, a slanting inner eye slit, a narrow nose, a wide mouth with thin mucous membranes, a sloping chin with no protrusion, and medium-sized ears. The prognathism of the upper and lower jaws is relatively low. In general, the reconstructed appearance of Ardipithecus exhibits several archaic features, bearing a closer resemblance to members of the Cercopithecine subfamily. We can conclude that the ancestors of humans, represented by Ardipithecus, although they had a mosaic of archaic and progressive features in their skeletal structure, did not resemble apes in appearance, which was previously a well-established notion.

Author Biography

  • Olga Grigorieva, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

    Grigorieva, Olga M. — Ph.D. in biology, Senior Researcher Fellow, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: labrecon@yandex.ru ORCID ID: https://orcid.org://0000-0003-1113-8171

    For citation: Grigorieva, O. M. 2026. A Craniofacial Reconstruction of Ardipithecus (A. ramidus ARA VP-6/500) // Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 3: 436–447.

    Funding: The article is published as part of the research plan of the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. Project «Patterns of Human Population Differentiation in Space and Time».

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Published

21.09.2026

Issue

No. 3 (2026): Vestnik antropologii (Herald of Anthropology)

Section

Physical anthropology