Category: Civilization, History, and Anthropology

So, now to the transitionals. Have fun!

F. Clark Howell, Early Man Time Life Library, 1980

Francis M Clapham, Our Human Ancestors, 1976

Handprint : Ancestral Lines

Prominent Hominid Fossils

Afarensis to habilis:

OH 24 is in between A. afarensis and habilis OH 24

KMNR-1813 KNM-ER 1813 brain size bigger than afarensis but smaller than habilis. Face looks more like habilis

B Asfaw, T White, O Lovejoy, B Latimer, S Simpson, G Suwa, Australopithecus garhi: a new species of early hominid from Ethiopia Science 284: 622-629, 1999. All individuals are intermediate between A. afarensis and H. habilis.

Jawbone Fossil Fills a Gap in Early Human Evolution

“Dr. Spoor said in an email that he agreed with the hypothesis that the new Ledi-Geraru mandible “derives from Australopithecus afarensis, and at 2.8 million years shows morphology that is ancestral to all early Homo.””

Habilis to ergastor:

Oldovai:Bed I has Habilis at bottom, then fossils with perfect mixture of characteristics of habilis and erectus, and erectus at top. At bottom of Bed II (top of Bed I) have fossils resemble H. erectus but brain case smaller than later H. erectus that lies immediately above them. pg 81

OH 13, 14 was classified by some anthropologists as H. habilis but others as early H. erectus. 650 cc

D2700 from Dmasi has features of both hablis and erectus. Fossil Hominids: Skull D2700

Koobi Fora: Another succession with several habilis up to 2 Mya, then transitionals, and then erectus at 1.5 Mya.

Ergastor to sapiens:

Omo Valley, Ethiopia: ~ 500,000 ya. mixture erectus and sapiens features Omo | Remains & Dating

Omo-1: mix of erectus and sapiens

Omo-2 “remarkable mixture of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens characteristics” F. Clark Howell, Early Man Time Life Library, 1980 pg. 70.

Sale in Morrocco: skull discovered in 1971, ~300,000 ya. also shows erectus and sapiens features.

Broken Hill skull: another skull with mixtures of erectus and sapiens features

Tautavel, 200Kya: large brow ridges and small cranium but rest of face looks like H. sapiens.

“We shall see the problem of drawing up a dividing line between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens is not easy.” Francis M Clapham, Our Human Ancestors, 1976 pg 65.

Ngaloba Beds of Laetoli, 120 Kya: ~1200 cc and suite of archaic (erectus) features.

Guamde in Turkana Basin, 180 Kya: more modern features than Ngaloba but in-between erectus and sapiens.

Skhul, Israel: “posed a puzzle to paleoanthropologists, appearing to be almost but not quite modern humans”

Skhul and Jebel Qafza caves: “robust” H. sapiens at 120 Kya that have brow ridges like ergastor but brain case like sapiens.

Bouri http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_earliesthuman.html First homo sapiens, actual paper: Nature

Vertesszollos, 400 Kya. Teeth like H. ergastor but occipital bone like H. sapiens. brain ~ 1300 cc

A Gibbons, Old skull has a new look. Science 280: 1525, June 5 1998. Primary article is: E Abbate et. al. A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) depression of Eritrea. Nature 393: 458-460, June 4 1998. Fossil with features intermediate between H. ergastor and H. sapiens.

Herto skulls: 160,000 years old. Close but not quite anatomically modern. Herto skulls (Homo sapiens idaltu)

White T.D., Asfaw B., DeGusta D., Gilbert H., Richards G.D., Suwa G. et al. (2003): Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature, 423:742-7.

BOU-VP-16/1 is an almost complete adult cranium (shown at right). It is large and robust, with a cranial capacity estimated at 1450 cubic centimetres, larger than most modern humans. The skull is long and high in lateral view, and White et al. (2003) list a number of features in which it is near or beyond the limit of modern humans (the occipital angle, mastoid height, palate breadth). Viewed from above, its length exceeds any from a sample of over 3000 modern humans, but one width measurement is below the modern human average. The brow ridge is not prominent and is within the modern human range. BOU-VP-16/2 consists of portions of another adult cranium which appears to have been even larger than the previous specimen.

Bodo: Bodo | anthropological and archaeological site, Ethiopia “a 600,000-year-old cranium that is intermediate in shape between Homo erectus and H. sapiens…the Bodo specimen reveals a transitional morphology between early members of the genus Homo and modern humans. “

Ergastor (erectus) to neandertal:

Stenheim and Swanscombe, 250 Kya: called H. heidelbergensis but have characteristics of both ergastor (erectus) and neanderthal. Large brows and small cranium ( ~1200cc) but otherwise looks like neanderthal

Petroloma skull (complete): brow ridges and low forehead like ergastor (erectus) but not quite as primitive but not as derived as sapiens or neanderthal. Back of head resembles sapiens. 250 Kya

Ehringsdorf in Germany and Saccopastore in Italy: mixture ergastor (erectus) and early neanderthals, classed as archaic H. sapiens or H. heidelbergensis

H. cepranensis: https://anthropology.ua.edu/blogs/dssimpson1/2015/10/22/homo-cepranensis-still-its-own-species/ “serves as a bridge between H. ergaster/erectus, and H. heidelbergensis”

So, now to the transitionals. Have fun!

F. Clark Howell, Early Man Time Life Library, 1980

Francis M Clapham, Our Human Ancestors, 1976

Handprint : Ancestral Lines

Prominent Hominid Fossils

Afarensis to habilis:

OH 24 is in between A. afarensis and habilis OH 24

KMNR-1813 KNM-ER 1813 brain size bigger than afarensis but smaller than habilis. Face looks more like habilis

B Asfaw, T White, O Lovejoy, B Latimer, S Simpson, G Suwa, Australopithecus garhi: a new species of early hominid from Ethiopia Science 284: 622-629, 1999. All individuals are intermediate between A. afarensis and H. habilis.

Jawbone Fossil Fills a Gap in Early Human Evolution

“Dr. Spoor said in an email that he agreed with the hypothesis that the new Ledi-Geraru mandible “derives from Australopithecus afarensis, and at 2.8 million years shows morphology that is ancestral to all early Homo.””

Habilis to ergastor:

Oldovai:Bed I has Habilis at bottom, then fossils with perfect mixture of characteristics of habilis and erectus, and erectus at top. At bottom of Bed II (top of Bed I) have fossils resemble H. erectus but brain case smaller than later H. erectus that lies immediately above them. pg 81

OH 13, 14 was classified by some anthropologists as H. habilis but others as early H. erectus. 650 cc

D2700 from Dmasi has features of both hablis and erectus. Fossil Hominids: Skull D2700

Koobi Fora: Another succession with several habilis up to 2 Mya, then transitionals, and then erectus at 1.5 Mya.

Ergastor to sapiens:

Omo Valley, Ethiopia: ~ 500,000 ya. mixture erectus and sapiens features Omo | Remains & Dating

Omo-1: mix of erectus and sapiens

Omo-2 “remarkable mixture of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens characteristics” F. Clark Howell, Early Man Time Life Library, 1980 pg. 70.

Sale in Morrocco: skull discovered in 1971, ~300,000 ya. also shows erectus and sapiens features.

Broken Hill skull: another skull with mixtures of erectus and sapiens features

Tautavel, 200Kya: large brow ridges and small cranium but rest of face looks like H. sapiens.

“We shall see the problem of drawing up a dividing line between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens is not easy.” Francis M Clapham, Our Human Ancestors, 1976 pg 65.

Ngaloba Beds of Laetoli, 120 Kya: ~1200 cc and suite of archaic (erectus) features.

Guamde in Turkana Basin, 180 Kya: more modern features than Ngaloba but in-between erectus and sapiens.

Skhul, Israel: “posed a puzzle to paleoanthropologists, appearing to be almost but not quite modern humans”

Skhul and Jebel Qafza caves: “robust” H. sapiens at 120 Kya that have brow ridges like ergastor but brain case like sapiens.

Bouri http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_earliesthuman.html First homo sapiens, actual paper: Nature

Vertesszollos, 400 Kya. Teeth like H. ergastor but occipital bone like H. sapiens. brain ~ 1300 cc

A Gibbons, Old skull has a new look. Science 280: 1525, June 5 1998. Primary article is: E Abbate et. al. A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) depression of Eritrea. Nature 393: 458-460, June 4 1998. Fossil with features intermediate between H. ergastor and H. sapiens.

Herto skulls: 160,000 years old. Close but not quite anatomically modern. Herto skulls (Homo sapiens idaltu)

White T.D., Asfaw B., DeGusta D., Gilbert H., Richards G.D., Suwa G. et al. (2003): Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature, 423:742-7.

BOU-VP-16/1 is an almost complete adult cranium (shown at right). It is large and robust, with a cranial capacity estimated at 1450 cubic centimetres, larger than most modern humans. The skull is long and high in lateral view, and White et al. (2003) list a number of features in which it is near or beyond the limit of modern humans (the occipital angle, mastoid height, palate breadth). Viewed from above, its length exceeds any from a sample of over 3000 modern humans, but one width measurement is below the modern human average. The brow ridge is not prominent and is within the modern human range. BOU-VP-16/2 consists of portions of another adult cranium which appears to have been even larger than the previous specimen.

Bodo: Bodo | anthropological and archaeological site, Ethiopia “a 600,000-year-old cranium that is intermediate in shape between Homo erectus and H. sapiens…the Bodo specimen reveals a transitional morphology between early members of the genus Homo and modern humans. “

Ergastor (erectus) to neandertal:

Stenheim and Swanscombe, 250 Kya: called H. heidelbergensis but have characteristics of both ergastor (erectus) and neanderthal. Large brows and small cranium ( ~1200cc) but otherwise looks like neanderthal

Petroloma skull (complete): brow ridges and low forehead like ergastor (erectus) but not quite as primitive but not as derived as sapiens or neanderthal. Back of head resembles sapiens. 250 Kya

Ehringsdorf in Germany and Saccopastore in Italy: mixture ergastor (erectus) and early neanderthals, classed as archaic H. sapiens or H. heidelbergensis

H. cepranensis: https://anthropology.ua.edu/blogs/dssimpson1/2015/10/22/homo-cepranensis-still-its-own-species/ “serves as a bridge between H. ergaster/erectus, and H. heidelbergensis”