Kabwe 1
Coordinates: 14°27′36″S 28°25′34″E / 14.460°S 28.426°E
.jpg) Replica (Museum Mauer, Germany) | |
| Common name | Kabwe 1 |
|---|---|
| Species | Homo heidelbergensis (Homo rhodesiensis) |
| Age | c. 110 ka |
| Date discovered | 1921 |
| Discovered by | Tom Zwiglaar |
_-_Homo_Rhodesiensis.JPG)
Kabwe 1 (also called the Broken Hill skull, Rhodesian Man) is a Middle Paleolithic fossil assigned by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1921 as the type specimen for Homo rhodesiensis, now mostly considered a synonym of Homo heidelbergensis.[1]
The cranium was discovered in the lead and zinc mine of Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) on 17 June 1921[2] by Tom Zwiglaar, a Swiss miner. In addition to the cranium, an upper jaw from another individual, a sacrum, a tibia, and two femur fragments were also found. The skull was dubbed "Rhodesian Man" at the time of the find, but is now commonly referred to as the Broken Hill skull or the Kabwe cranium.
The skull is kept in the Natural History Museum, London.[3]
Date
The destruction of the paleoanthropological site has made stratigraphic dating impossible. Bada et al. (1974) published the direct date of 110 ka, measured by aspartic acid racemisation.[4]
Morphology
Cranial capacity of the Broken Hill skull has been estimated at 1,230 cm³.[5]
The skull suggests an extremely robust individual with the comparatively largest brow-ridges of any known hominin. It was described as having a broad face similar to that of Homo neanderthalensis (i.e. large nasal bones and thick protruding brow ridges). Consequently, researchers came up with interpretations such as "African Neanderthal". However, with regard to the skull's extreme robustness, recent research has highlighted several intermediate features between modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthal. The skull has cavities in ten of the upper teeth and is considered one of the oldest known occurrences of cavities. Pitting indicates significant infection before death and implies that the cause of death may have been due to dental disease infection or possibly chronic ear infection.
See also
References
- ↑ Hublin, J.-J. (2013), "The Middle Pleistocene Record. On the Origin of Neandertals, Modern Humans and Others" in: R. David Begun (ed.), A Companion to Paleoanthropology, John Wiley, pp. 517-537 (p. 523).
- ↑ Chambo Ng'uni (2015-01-10). "Zambia resolute on recovering Broken Hill Man from Britain – Zambia Daily Mail". Daily-mail.co.zm. Retrieved 2018-06-04. "Records at Kabwe Municipal Council reveal that the skull was discovered in Mutwe wa Nsofu area during mining excavation. The cave where the remains were found seemed to have served as a shelter and camping place for the early man. Animal bones were also discovered and they represented the remains of meals and these were predominantly of antelope. Having been discovered at Broken Hill Mine where mining started around 1904, the skull was later named Broken Hill Man. The skull was complete and its features were recognisable. It had a round perforation of the borne that could have been caused by a wooden pointed spear. Discovered along with the skull were parts of the face of the second individual, a thigh bone, shin bone, part of the bones of the pelvis, a sacrum, part of the bone of the upper arm, a quantity of animal bones, some stones and primitive bone implements."
- ↑ "Collections - Natural History Museum". www.nhm.ac.uk.
- ↑ Bada, Jeffrey L., Roy A. Schroeder, Reiner Protsch, and Rainer Berger. Concordance of Collagen-Based Radiocarbon and Aspartic-Acid Racemization Ages PNAS abstract URL. "Amino Acid Racemization Dating of Fossil Bones". Arjournals.annualreviews.org. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ↑ Rightmire, G. Philip. The Evolution of Homo erectus: Comparative Anatomical Studies of an Extinct Human Species Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-521-44998-7, ISBN 978-0-521-44998-4.