Small mid-Pleistocene hominin associated with East African Acheulean technology.
Hominin fossils from the African mid-Pleistocene are rare despite abundant Acheulean tools in Africa and apparently African-derived hominins in Eurasia between 1.0 and 0.5 million years ago (Ma). Here we describe an African fossil cranium constrained by 40Ar/39Ar analyses, magnetostratigraphy, and sedimentary features to 0.97 to 0.90 Ma, and stratigraphically associated with Acheulean handaxes. Although the cranium represents possibly the smallest adult or near-adult known between 1.7 and 0.5 Ma, it retains features observed in larger Homo erectus individuals, yet shows a distinct suite of traits indicative of wide population variation in the hominins of this period.
Potts
Richard
R
Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0112, USA. potts.rick@nmnh.si.edu
Behrensmeyer
Anna K
AK
Deino
Alan
A
Ditchfield
Peter
P
Clark
Jennifer
J
D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D003393:Cranial Sutures / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology*