''Homo rhodesiensis'' is the species name proposed by Arthur Smith Woodward (1921) to classify Kabwe 1 (the "Kabwe skull" or "Broken Hill skull", also "Rhodesian Man"), a Middle Stone Age fossil recovered from a cave at Broken Hill, or Kabwe, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).. The skull was recently dated to 324,000 to 274,000 years ago. Other similar older specimens also exist. ''H. rhodesiensis'' is now mostly considered a synonym of ''Homo heidelbergensis'', or possibly an African subspecies of ''Homo heidelbergensis sensu lato'', understood as a polymorphic species dispersed throughout Africa and Eurasia with a range spanning the Middle Pleistocene (c. 0.8–0.12 mya). Other designations such as ''Homo sapiens arcaicus'' and ''Homo sapiens rhodesiensis'' have also been proposed. White et al. (2003) suggested Rhodesian Man as ancestral to ''Homo sapiens idaltu'' (Herto Man). The derivation of ''Homo sapiens'' from ''Homo rhodesiensis'' has often been proposed, but is obscured by a fossil gap during 400–260 kya.

Fossils

thumb|250px|Interpretation of "Rhodesian Men" by Amédée Forestier (1922) A number of morphologically-comparable fossil remains came to light in East Africa (Bodo, Ndutu, Eyasi, Ileret) and North Africa (Salé, Rabat, Dar-es-Soltane, Djbel Irhoud, Sidi Aberrahaman, Tighenif) during the 20th century. *Kabwe 1, also called the Broken Hill skull, or "Rhodesian Man", was assigned by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1921 as the type specimen for ''Homo rhodesiensis''; most contemporary scientists forego the taxon "rhodesiensis" altogether and assign it to ''Homo heidelbergensis''.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
. The cranium was discovered in Mutwe Wa Nsofu Area in a lead and zinc mine in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) on June 17, 1921 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. *Bodo cranium: The 600,000 year old fossil was found in 1976 by members of an expedition led by Jon Kalb at Bodo D'ar in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia. Although the skull is most similar to those of Kabwe, Woodward's nomenclature was discontinued and its discoverers attributed it to ''H. heidelbergensis''. It has features that represent a transition between ''Homo ergaster''/''erectus'' and ''Homo sapiens''. *Ndutu cranium, "the hominid from Lake Ndutu" in northern Tanzania, around 600-500,000 years oldMturi, A A (August 1976). “New hominid from Lake Ndutu, Tanzania”. Nature 262: 484-485. or 400,000 years old. In 1976 R.J.Clarke classified it as ''Homo erectus'' and it has generally been viewed that way, although points of similarity to ''H. sapiens'' have also been recognized. After comparative studies with similar finds in Africa allocation to an African subspecies of ''H. sapiens'' was considered most appropriate by Phillip Rightmire. An indirect cranial capacity estimate suggests 1100 ml. Its supratoral sulcus morphology and the presence of protuberance as suggested by Rightmire "give the Nudutu occiput an appearance which is also unlike that of ''Homo erectus''". And in a 1989 publication Clarke concluded: "It is assigned to archaic ''Homo sapiens'' on the basis of its expanded parietal and occipital regions of the brain". But Stinger (1986) pointed out that a ''thickened iliac pillar'' is typical for ''Homo erectus''. In 2016, Chris Stringer classified the cranium as belonging to ''Homo heidelbergensis''/''Homo rhodesiensis'' (a species considered to be intermediate between ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo sapiens'') rather than as early ''H. sapiens'', but considers it to display a "more sapiens-like zygomaxillary morphology" than certain other examples of ''Homo rhodesiensis''. *The Saldanha cranium found in 1953 in South Africa, and estimated at around 500,000 years old, was subject to at least three taxonomic revisions from 1955 to 1996.


See also

* ''Homo heidelbergensis'' * List of fossil sites * List of hominina fossils


References




Literature

* * * . * * . * .

External links

* *
Human Timeline (Interactive)
– Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016). {{Taxonbar|from=Q131464 Category:Homo heidelbergensis Rhodesiensis Category:Fossil taxa described in 1921