How do scientists know a skull belongs to a certain ape if like humans, monkeys can have different head shapes

Question

How do scientists know a skull belongs to a certain ape if like humans, monkeys can have different head shapes
The skeletons we see in text books and in the museums all seem to have the same head shape...but blacks, whites, and asians all have different head shapes...(longer, rounder, etc...)how do scientists know if the skull they are looking at then is human...and how do they know that a skill belonged to a Neanderthal since they probably could of had different head shapes as well?

and from what race does that model skeleton we see come from (taking into account it's skull shape)?

Answer 1

They also look at the teeth and the jawbone and the dents left by the jaw muscles.


Most of the skeletons come from poor Indians or Chinese whose families sell their bodies (according to my anatomy professor when someone in the class asked that question.)

Answer 2

I don't believe that it is possible to tell the 'race' of a person by their skull shape. There is so much variation within each so-called 'race' that it is not possible to tell someone's ethnicity by skull shape. However, the Neanderthal skull is very different from the modern human skull.

Answer 3

There may be small variations in shape, but the physiognomic differences between species is more pronounced, and easilly recognised by experts. In the same way they can tell if a human skeleton is male, female, adult, or child.

Answer 4

This is called variation, but it's variation around a basis.

For example humans have a bump of bone on the front of the jaw that makes our chin. Apes haven't got it.