From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Homo rhodesiensis
is a
hominin
species described from a single
fossil
skull
. It was found in the colony of
Northern Rhodesia
, (now
Zambia
) at a
mine
called Broken Hill (now
Kabwe
) in 1921. The skull lacks the lower jaw, but otherwise is almost complete. In addition to the
cranium
, an upper jaw from another individual, a
sacrum
(bone of the
pelvis
), a
tibia
, and two
femur
fragments were also found.
Rhodesian Man is dated to be between 125,000 and 300,000 years old.
Cranial capacity
of the Broken Hill skull has been estimated at 1,100 cm³.
[1]
Bada & al (1974) published a direct date of 110 ka for this specimen.
[2]
[3]
The brain size is rather small for such a late date. The destruction of the paleoanthropological site has made layered dating impossible.
The skull is from an extremely robust (= strong) individual, and has the comparatively largest brow-ridges of any known hominid remains. It was described as having a broad face similar to
Homo neanderthalensis
(i.e. large nose and thick protruding brow ridges), and has been interpreted as an "African Neanderthal". There are several features intermediate between modern
Homo sapiens
and Neanderthals. Most current experts believe Rhodesian Man to be within the group of
Homo heidelbergensis
. Other names, such as Archaic
Homo sapiens
and
Homo sapiens rhodesiensis
, have also been suggested.