Journal article
Dating the skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, and its position in human evolution
Nature, Vol.580(7803), pp.372-375
30/03/2020
PMID: 32296179
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Source: InCites
Abstract
The cranium from Broken Hill (Kabwe) was recovered from cave deposits in 1921, during metal ore mining in what is now Zambia . It is one of the best-preserved skulls of a fossil hominin, and was initially designated as the type specimen of Homo rhodesiensis, but recently it has often been included in the taxon Homo heidelbergensis . However, the original site has since been completely quarried away, and-although the cranium is often estimated to be around 500 thousand years old -its unsystematic recovery impedes its accurate dating and placement in human evolution. Here we carried out analyses directly on the skull and found a best age estimate of 299 ± 25 thousand years (mean ± 2σ). The result suggests that later Middle Pleistocene Africa contained multiple contemporaneous hominin lineages (that is, Homo sapiens , H. heidelbergensis/H. rhodesiensis and Homo naledi ), similar to Eurasia, where Homo neanderthalensis, the Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis and perhaps also Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus were found contemporaneously. The age estimate also raises further questions about the mode of evolution of H. sapiens in Africa and whether H. heidelbergensis/H. rhodesiensis was a direct ancestor of our species .
Details
- Title
- Dating the skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, and its position in human evolution
- Creators
- Rainer Grün - Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Rainer.Grun@griffith.edu.auAlistair Pike - Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton, UKFrank McDermott - UCD School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin,, Dublin, IrelandStephen Eggins - Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaGraham Mortimer - Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaM Aubert - Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution & Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, AustraliaL Kinsley - Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaRenaud Joannes-Boyau (Author) - Southern Cross University, Southern Cross GeoScienceMichael Rumsey - Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UKChristiane Denys - Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, FranceJames Brink - Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaTara Clark - School of Earth, Atmospheric & Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, AustraliaChris Stringer - CHER, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK. C.Stringer@nhm.ac.uk
- Publication Details
- Nature, Vol.580(7803), pp.372-375
- Identifiers
- 991012832489802368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Southern Cross GeoScience; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article