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Florisbad Skull

Coordinates:28°46′S26°04′E/ 28.767°S 26.067°E/-28.767; 26.067
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(Redirected fromHomo helmei)
Florisbad Skull
Common nameFlorisbad Skull
SpeciesHomo sapiens
orHomo helmei
orHomo heidelbergensis
Age259±35 ka
Place discoveredFlorisbad archaeological and paleontological site,South Africa
Date discovered1932
Discovered byThomas F. Dreyer, G. Venter[1]

TheFlorisbad Skullis an important human fossil of the earlyMiddle Stone Age,representing either lateHomo heidelbergensisor earlyHomo sapiens. It was discovered in 1932 by T. F. Dreyer at theFlorisbad site,Free State Province,South Africa.

Classification

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The Florisbad Skull was classified asHomo (Africanthropus) helmeiby Dreyer (1935), after the sponsor of Dreyer's expedition, R. E. Helme. TheAfricanthropusgeneric name proposed by Dreyer was taken up by Weinert (1938) to refer to early African human fossils. In a note to Dreyer's 1935 publication,C. U. Ariëns Kappersmentioned the close resemblance of the fossil toHomo sapiens fossilis(Cro-Magnon Man). M. R. Drennan (1935, 1937) emphasized resemblance toHomo neanderthalensis,proposing his classification asHomo florisbadensis (helmei).A. Galloway (1937) proposed classification asHomo sapiens,specifically noting a resemblance to modernAustraloids.Commentators of the 1950s to 1970s have drawn attention to archaic African human fossils such asSaldanhaandKabwecrania (now assigned toH. heidelbergensis). Clarke (1985) compared it toLaetoli Hominid 18andOmo 2,which are now considered earlyanatomically modern human(H. sapiens) fossils.

The difficulty of placing the fossil in eitherH. heidelbergensisorH. sapiensprompted McBrearty and Brooks (2000) to revive the designationH. helmei.[1]In 2016Chris Stringerargued that the Florisbad Skull, along with theJebel IrhoudandEliye Springsspecimens, belong to an archaic or "early" form ofHomo sapiens.[2]The Florisbad Skull was also classified asHomo sapiensby Hublin et al. (in 2017), in part on the basis of the similar Jebel Irhoud finds from Morocco.[3][4]Scerri et al. (2018) adduce the fossil as evidence for "African multiregionalism", the view of a complex speciation ofH. sapienswidely dispersed across Africa, with substantial hybridization betweenH. sapiensand more divergent hominins in different regions.[5]Lahr and Mounier (2019) also classify the Florisbad Skull as an example of earlyH. sapiens,which they suggest arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago from the merging of populations in East and South Africa.[6][7]

Description

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The Florisbad Skull belonged to a specimen within the size range of modern humans, with a brain volume larger than modern averages, at 1,400 cm3.The skull was also found withMiddle Stone Agetools.[8]

The fossil skull is a fragment; preserved are the right side of the face, most of the frontal bone, and some of the maxilla, along with portions of the roof and sidewalls. A single, upper right, third molar was also found with the adult skull.

The skull also showed extensiveporotic hyperostosisas well as a large number of healed lesions, including pathological drainage or vascular tracts. There are also a couple of large puncture marks and scratch-like marks which may reflect hyena chewing.[9]

Based on enamel samples from the tooth found with the skull, the fossil has been directly dated byelectron spin resonancedatingto around between259±35 ka(between 294,000 and 224,000 years old).[9]

Context

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Further information:Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site

The partial cranium is part of an assemblage of mostly carnivore prey remains, caught in vertical spring vents. It shows damage by hyena chewing. The spring vents were later sealed by deposits. "Peat II" is a deposit of dark organic clay representing a Middle Stone Age land surface, showing a human occupation horizon dated121±6 ka.[9]

The wider Florisbad site has also produced a large and diverse fauna. The assemblage including micro-vertebrates fromspringhares,rabbits, rodents and reptiles has informed researchers on the paleoenvironment of the interior of South Africa in the Middle Pleistocene. The large mammal component of the site suggests an open grassland with a body of water in the immediate vicinity.[10]Although many specimens are dated by comparisons of faunal assemblages, this method does not prove to have accurate chronological resolution for much of the last million years.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abSchwartz, Jeffrey H.; Tattersall, Ian (2005-03-11).The Human Fossil Record, Craniodental Morphology of Genus Homo (Africa and Asia).John Wiley & Sons. p. 79–81.ISBN9780471326441..
  2. ^Stringer, C. (2016)."The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences.371(1698): 20150237.doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0237.PMC4920294.PMID27298468.
  3. ^Sample, Ian (7 June 2017)."OldestHomo sapiensbones ever found shake foundations of the human story ".The Guardian.Retrieved7 June2017.
  4. ^Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Ben-Ncer, Abdelouahed; Bailey, Shara E.; Freidline, Sarah E.; Neubauer, Simon; Skinner, Matthew M.; Bergmann, Inga; Le Cabec, Adeline; Benazzi, Stefano; Harvati, Katerina; Gunz, Philipp (2017)."New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin ofHomo sapiens"(PDF).Nature.546(7657): 289–292.Bibcode:2017Natur.546..289H.doi:10.1038/nature22336.PMID28593953.S2CID205255859.
  5. ^"Other earlyH. sapiensfossils from Florisbad in South Africa (~260 ka), Omo Kibish (~195 ka) and Herto (~160 ka), both in Ethiopia, are morphologically diverse. This diversity has led some researchers to propose that fossils such as Jebel Irhoud and Florisbad actually represent a more primitive species called 'H. helmei', using the binomen given to the Florisbad partial cranium in 1935....However, we viewH. sapiensas an evolving lineage with deep African roots, and therefore prefer to recognize such fossils as part of the diversity shown by early members of theH. sapiensclade. "Scerri, EML; Thomas, MG; Manica, A; Gunz, P; Stock, JT; Stringer, C; Grove, M; Groucutt, HS; Timmermann, A; Rightmire, GP; d'Errico, F; Tryon, CA; Drake, NA; Brooks, AS; Dennell, RW; Durbin, R; Henn, BM; Lee-Thorp, J; Petraglia, MD; Thompson, JC; Scally, A; Chikhi, L (2018)."Did Our Species Evolve in Subdivided Populations across Africa, and Why Does It Matter?".Trends Ecol Evol.33(8): 582–594.doi:10.1016/j.tree.2018.05.005.PMC6092560.PMID30007846.
  6. ^Mounier, Aurélien; Lahr, Marta (2019)."Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species".Nature Communications.10(1): 3406.Bibcode:2019NatCo..10.3406M.doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w.PMC6736881.PMID31506422.
  7. ^Zimmer, Carl(10 September 2019)."Scientists Find the Skull of Humanity's Ancestor — on a Computer - By comparing fossils and CT scans, researchers say they have reconstructed the skull of the last common forebear of modern humans".The New York Times.Retrieved10 September2019.
  8. ^Rightmire, G. Philip (2009-09-22)."Middle and later Pleistocene hominins in Africa and Southwest Asia".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.106(38): 16046–16050.Bibcode:2009PNAS..10616046R.doi:10.1073/pnas.0903930106.ISSN0027-8424.PMC2752549.PMID19581595. "Homo helmei".Bradshaw Foundation.Retrieved2015-11-18.
  9. ^abcGrün, Rainer; Brink, James S.; Spooner, Nigel A.; Taylor, Lois; Stringer, Chris B.; Franciscus, Robert G.; Murray, Andrew S. (1996-08-08). "Direct dating of Florisbad hominid".Nature.382(6591): 500–501.Bibcode:1996Natur.382..500G.doi:10.1038/382500a0.PMID8700221.S2CID4435718..
  10. ^Lewis, Patrick J.; Brink, James S.; Kennedy, Alicia M.; Campbell, Timothy L. (2011)."Examination of the Florisbad microvertebrates".South African Journal of Science.107(7/8).doi:10.4102/sajs.v107i7/8.613.
  11. ^Millard, A.R. (2008)."A critique of the chronometric evidence for hominid fossils: I. Africa and the Near East 500-50 ka"(PDF).J Hum Evol.54(6): 848–874.doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.11.002.PMID18201747.
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28°46′S26°04′E/ 28.767°S 26.067°E/-28.767; 26.067

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