A new hominid fossil skull (L.H. 18) from the Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli, northern Tanzania

Abstract

In 1976, a fossil hominid skull was recovered from the Ngaloba Beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania; its morphology is discussed here. The discovery of this skull is of great interest and importance because of its very substantial presumed antiquity and its largely anatomically modern morphology. The discovery has considerable implications for the antiquity and origin of modernHomo sapiens,a subject of longstanding interest and one which has gained renewed attention recently.