Homo helmei

Florisbad face and skullcap.

*Homo helmei* is a proposed species of hominin that lived in South-East Africa during the Middle Pleistocene.

## History

The Omo remains consist of two partial crania, four mandibles, a bone from the leg and nearly 200 teeth as well as other assorted parts. Omo I and II differ in several features; Omo I is more apomorphic while the Omo II remains are more plesiomorphic (having been discovered at different sites, Kamoya's Hominid Site and Abell's Hominid Site, respectively). They were found in a layer tuff between the older Member I and the younger Member III; both sets of remains from similar strata above Member I. Lithics and fauna are limited, making dating the remains difficult.

## Description

Florisbad has a cranial capacity of 1400 centimeters3 and was discovered with lithics belonging to the Middle Pleistocene. Extensive porotic hyperostosis and many healed lesions are found on this individual, as well as pathological drainage. Many large punctures and scratches on the bone were inflicted by hyena chewing. Eliye Springs is commonly compared with Omo and LH 18 through having a mosaic of derived and basal characters, being assigned to the "*helmei*" morph in 2019.

## Classification

* Eliye Springs.
* Eliye Springs.
1/2
Dreyer (1935) initially called the Florisbad skull *Homo (Africanthropus) helmei* after the sponsor of his expedition, R.E. Helme. The subgenus name was then used as a generic name by Weinert (1938) to refer to African hominins. C.U. Ariëns Kappers mentioned a close resemblance to the Cro-Magnons, with Drenna (1935, 1937) arguing for Neanderthal affinities and suggesting the name *H. florisbadensis (helmei)*. Galloway (1937) suggested referral to *Homo sapiens* due to traits similar to Australian Aborigines. Clarke (1985) compared with with LH 18 and Omo 2. This longstanding dispute caused McBrearty and Brooks (2000) to resurrect *H. helmei*. Stringer (2016) suggested that it, Jebel Irhoud and Eliye Springs should be subsumed into *Homo sapiens* as early forms. This was supported by Hublin et al. (2017), with Scerri et al. (2018) suggesting African multiregionalism. Mounier and Lahr (2019) support a multiregional hypothesis, sorting early Homo sapiens into morphs that exploded in diversity before going extinct or contributing to modern genomes. Of these morphs is one comprising of Florisbad/Eliye Springs/Omo, which, morphologically, are closest to the supposed LCA of anatomically modern humans. If this morph were ever given a name, the nomen helmei would take precedent as florisbadensis was proposed later and based on the same holotype.

## Synonyms

* *H. florisbadensis*
* *H. f. helmei*
* *H. sapiens helmei*
* *Africanthropus helmei*

## Notable Specimens

* ES-11693 or KNM-ES-11693 "Eliye Springs": Early *Homo sapiens* or *"H. helmei"*. It is from Eliye Springs, West Turkana, Kenya. It is grouped with Omo 2 and Laetoli H. 18 due to a mosaic of basal and derived features. However, others sink the skull into *Homo heidelbergensis* The specimen itself, however, is undated, but Chris Stringer speculates it could be 200-400,000 years old. This individual may have suffered from anemia earlier in life. It is wide and low, being more vertical than other similar crania.
* Florisbad Skull: The holotype of this purported species, most commonly referred to *Homo sapiens* or *Homo heidelbergensis*. It was discovered alongside Middle Stone Age lithics. The fossil itself is the right side of the facial skeleton, most of the frontal, an incomplete maxilla and elements of the roof and vault walls; it is an adult. An upper right 3rd molar is known. Enamel recovered and dated with electron spin resonance recovers an age of 294,000-224,000 years.
* Omo Kibish 1-2: Crania from Omo Valley, sometimes , originally dated to 130,000 years but later dated to 195,000 in 2005 or 2008. This was done with video footage, maps and photographs from its discovery in 1967. Omo 1 is a braincase. A 2022 study found an age of 230,000 years, thus being the oldest derived human. The specimen still my not be properly aged, and is likely even older.

## Paleoecology

Florisbad was discovered with a fauna that is mostly comprised of carnivore prey. The specimen was caught in vertical spring vents that were later sealed through depositing. Human occupation at 121±6 ka is detected through the Peat II deposit at the site, representing a land surface. Largely, the entire site has a diverse fauna that includes springhares, rabbits, rodents and reptiles. This indicates that it was once an open grassland that was within the radius of a body of water. Eliye Springs was discovered from the western shore of Lake Turkana, having originated from reworked deposits that obscure its original stratigraphic placement and thus making dating difficult.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omo\_remains
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florisbad\_Skull
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11213-w
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliye\_Springs
5. ↑ https://paleocore.org/origins/nomina/detail/65/
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/ChrisStringer65/status/1446378767895703560
7. ↑ http://in-africa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Brauer-Leakey-1986-JHE-Eliye-Springs.pdf
8. ↑ https://second.wiki/wiki/knm-es\_11693
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/ChrisStringer65/status/1481296239320780806
10. ↑ https://t.co/7fnTVqNkZ7