Homo rhodesiensis

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## Statistics

### Diet

Omnivorous

*Homo rhodesiensis*, also known as African *Homo heidelbergensis* or the Rhodesian Man, is an extinct species of hominin that lived in Africa and possibly Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene and possibly until the Late Pleistocene.

## History

Aleš Hrdlička of the Smithsonian recorded the recovery of Kabwe 1 or the Broken Hill Skull, with Tom Swiglaar and an unnamed African miner discovering the skull on June 17, 1921 during mining excavation of a subterranean ore pocket. They showed the skull to the mine managers, who photographed Swiglaar holding it, and passing it off to an on-site doctor. The doctor recognized that it could be of scientific importance and was shipped by the Rhodesia Broken Hill Mine Company to the British Museum several months later. Arthur Smith Woodward coined the species *H. rhodesiensis* based on these finds. Since the 1970s, the Zambian government has petitioned for the United Kingdom to give up custody of the skull based on several international laws and treaties relating to cultural artifacts. Based on the 1912 Bushman Relics Proclamation offered by Zambia, it is unlawful to remove cultural relics without a permit from the British South Africa Company (which was not issued for the Rhodesia Broken Hill Mine Company prior to donation). In May 2018, a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting showed British delegates agreeing to negotiate with Zambia on the repatriation of this specimen, with agreements regarding access, scans and digital data with the skull for researchers. However, this has not yet occurred. An undated humerus and parietal were also discovered, though it is unsure which species they belong to because they cannot be dated.

In 2021, the name "*Homo bodoensis*" was coined to replace *H. rhodesiensis* due to a problematic taxonomic history, a poor definition, low usage and how it is partly named after Cecil Rhodes who killed thousands of African citizens by Mirjana Roksandic, Predrag Radović, Xiu-Jie Wu and Christopher J. Bae (2021). It was coined after the Bodo cranium, which was assigned as the holotype of this species since it is the most diagnostic in the geographic and morphological senses. They assigned all *H. rhodesiensis* crania (Kabwe, Saldanha and Ndutu), LH 18 and possibly Salé and Ceprano. They also find the taxon to be distinct and *Homo heidelbergensis* as in-need of a revision. They note this taxon is not a true species, however, since it is extremely interbred, but they find it to be the direct ancestor to *Homo sapiens* and itself evolves from a lineage of *Homo erectus* ancestors. However, Chris Stringer, not affiliated with the project, thinks the name "*rhodesiensis*" should be kept because "you can’t just cancel a species name you don’t like". However, he agrees that *Homo heidelbergensis* deserves a revision. He notes the names "*saldanensis*" and "*cepranensis*" should be used, however, if *H. rhodesiensis* were disused since they take take priority (*saldanensis* takes priority over *cepranensis*, so it would be *H. saldanensis* if *H. rhodesiensis* were successfully disused). Stringer also states some facial characters are similar to *Homo antecessor*, so he is unsure and doubtful that *H. rhodesiensis* are the ancestors to derived humans. However, the team will continue to use the name and develop hypotheses, although the majority of scholars choose not to adopt this newfound idea based on Stringer's comments.

## Description

*H. bodoensis* (*H. rhodesiensis*) is diagnosed by a unique combination of *Homo erectus* and *Homo sapiens*-like characters. In the former, it is similar in having a robust midface, total prognathism, projecting tori, a flat and low frontal squama, a sagittal keel, a low vault in profile, a prominent parietal angular torus, thick bones in the vault and no observable formen lacerum, presented as a narrow crevice. These may be linked to the retained cranial structure of *Homo erectus*. Characters similar to other Mid Pleistocene and later taxa are; an increased cranial capacity and the broader frontal and midvault, reduced postorbital constriction, indicated parietal bossing and the high and arched temporal squama that come with that, a vertical nasal margin and the incisive canal is oriented in from of the hard palate. Extremely thick and projecting segmented brow ridges with incipient division at the mid-orbit and lateral attenuate may be autapomorphies. Kabwe 1 supports ridges at the back of the skull which would have supported strong neck muscles. A 2022 study compares the nasopharyngeal morphology of Middle Pleistocene, including Petralona and Kabwe, and they sit firmly in the *Homo sapiens* hypodigm rather than the *Homo neanderthalensis* hypodigm. This skeletal morphology suggests closer affiliation to *Homo sapiens*.

## Classification

The Rhodesian Man is now sometimes considered to be *H. heidelbergensis*, or maybe an African subspecies, it is a polymorphic species that radiated from Africa to Eurasia between 0.8-0.12 million years ago. It has also been called *Homo sapiens arcaicus* or *Homo sapiens rhodesiensis*, but in 2003, White et al. stated the Rhodesian Man may have been ancestral to the Herto Man. The derivation point between the Rhodesian Man and *H. sapiens* has been proposed, but is obscured by a 400-260 kya time gap. The Herto remains were first called *H. sapiens Idaltu*, but the name has gone under scrutiny, since it is just outside *H. sapiens* range of variability, which may then make it a late *H. rhodesiensis*.

It was found:

In the cladogram above, *Homo naledi*, *Homo floresiensis* and *Homo luzonensis* are excluded because they were not attached to the original cladogram because they have problematic classification. Some doubt that *H. rhodesiensis* is the direct ancestor to *H. sapiens*.

## Paleobiology

### Technology

Bodo 1 exhibits cut marks thought to be ritual defleshing.

### Paleopathology

A 500,000-year-old femur from Grotte à Hominidés, Morocco and has many bite marks on the bone that indicate either scavenging or predation. The bone is suggested to be of *H. rhodesiensis*. This individual was likely consumed by a hyaena, speculated to have happened during a territory dispute.

### Diet

*H. rhodesiensis* seems to have eaten more big game than previous species, becoming an essential component. However, diet could have varied, with Terra Amata populations eating deer, elephants, boar, ibex, rhinoceros and aurochs. African sites typically contain bovines and horses, though these may have been scavenged. Though some were close to oceans, lakes or rivers, aquatic exploitation was lacking.

## Paleoecology

    A series of new discoveries have kicked off the "muddle in the middle", a paleoanthropological problem concerning the taxonomy of African Middle Pleistocene hominins including the Florisbad skull, *H. naledi*, Border Cave *Homo sapiens*, Kabwe 1 and related specimens of similar ages. At one point, Florisbad was considered "*Homo helmei*", but recent studies suggest it is an 'early' basal *Homo sapiens* similar to Jebel Irhoud and Eliye Springs. Additionally, many of these specimens had poor dating, so their affinities are still blurry. Nonetheless, all of these were contemporaneous and overlapped with varying degrees. In 2021, it was noted that all African and some European specimens of *Homo heidelbergensis* and even some *Homo sapiens* should be sunk into *H. rhodesiensis*. This would make the species live all across Africa and in the Mediterranean. KNM-TH 45519-22 are chimpanzee specimens recovered within the same layer as *H. rhodesiensis* at the Rift Valley. Destruction of the Broken Hill site has made dating impossible. Prior to the 1970s, it was thought to be 30-40,000 years old. Bada et al. (1974) established direct dating to 110,000 years based on acid racemization. In 2010, the Smithsonian suggested an age of 150-300,000 years with an uppermost bound of 500,000 years based on new faunal material. However, a quarter millimeter of the skull was removed directly using new techniques and directly dated to 324-274,000 years and published in 2020. The description of *H. bodoensis* in 2021 suggested that this individual is late-surviving and derived.

## Synonyms

* *H. saldanensis* (=Saldanha)
* *H. cepranensis* (=Ceprano)
* *H. njarasensis* (=Eyasi)
* *H. petraloniensis* (=Petralona)
* *H. petralonensis* (lapsus)
* *H. asesernensis*
* *H. sapiens arcaicus*
* *H. sapiens rhodesiensis*
* *H. erectus petraloniensis* (=Petralona)
* *H. erectus asesernensis*
* *H. neanderthalensis (Africanicus) njarasensis*
* *H. neanderthalensis (Africanicus) rhodesiensis*
* *H. heidelbergensis rhodesiensis*
* *Palaeoanthropus njarasensis* (=Eyasi)
* *Palaeoanthropus palestinensis* (=Zuttiyeh)
* *Africanthropus njarasensis* (=Eyasi)
* *Cyphanthropus*
* *Archanthropus*
* *Homo-proscopinus*

## Notable Specimens

* BH 1, Kabwe 1, Kabwe E686 or Broken Hill Skull "Rhodesian Man": Assigned by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1921, the "Rhodesian Man" or Broken Hill Skull, it has since been moved to *Homo heidelbergensis*. The skull was discovered in the Mutwe Wa Nsofu Area, in a lead and zinc mine on June 17, 1921 by Swiss miner Tom Zwiglaar. Additionally, an upper jaw, sacrum, a tibia and two femur fragments were also found. In 2021, it was referred to *Homo bodoensis*. The cranial capacity is 1230, which coupled with the skull, suggests an extremely robust individual with one of the largest brow ridges documented. The face is similar to *Homo neanderthalensis* (large nasals and thick brows) in some aspects. These have led to much debate, with some opting to call them an African extension of *Homo heidelbergensis*. The cranial capacity overlaps with *Homo sapiens* but the specimen is otherwise basal. This has led some to believe a connection between *Homo heidelbergensis* and species such as Neanderthals and *Homo erectus*. No successful DNA extractions have occurred. The age of the skull aligns with some of the earliest *Homo sapiens* Cavities are present in ten of the upper teeth and pitting suggests significant infection before death and implies that the cause of death may have been due to the pathologies in the teeth or by the chronic ear infection that bore a small circular incision into the braincase. .

* + Broken Hill E.898?: A partial right distal humerus end found loose from sediment and is not associated with any faunal or industrial remains. This makes the specimen unable to be dated. Their enigmatic origins, apparently found away from the skull, makes these specimens of little use. Authors considered that the fossil (of a strong adult male) to be of any age from the Early Pleistocene to the Holocene, but since it is undated no morphological data is useful because it can not be ascribed to a species. It was placed in an on-site tool house, which Erik Trinkaus rediscovered after learning of their existence in documents. Aleš Hrdlička (1925) initially identified it.
	+ Broken Hill parietal?: A "rather thin" parietal that was discovered at the Broken Hill Mine and placed in a tool hut to be rediscovered by Erik Trinkaus. It is likely of an adolescent and was found loose from sediment and not with associated fauna or industry.
* Bodo cranium: An incomplete skull (including face, most of the frontal, partial midvault and the base-anterior foramen magnum) sometimes assigned to *Homo heidelbergensis*, *H. rhodesiensis* and sometimes *Homo erectus*. It has a cranial capacity of ~1250, the lower range of *Homo sapiens*; the skull is 21 centimeters long, 21 in width and 19.05 tall. Archeulean hand axes and cleavers alongside animal bones indicate this person butchered prey. The cranium itself shows evidence of being skinned shortly after death by another individual with a stone tool., with symmetrical cuts forming patterns and direction show it may have been a mortuary practice, being the earliest evidence of non-utilitarian mortuary practices. These cuts are found laterally on the maxilla, which has led to some speculating this was done specifically to remove the mandible. The skull bears a mosaic of primitive and derived features, such as a derived cranial capacity and a larger brow. It may be of a lineage between *Homo erectus* and derived *Homo sapiens*, but it is still unknown where exactly Bodo 1 fits. Increased encephalization in it and similar fossils may be a driving force for speciation in derived *Homo sapiens*. Ato Alemayehu Asfaw, Paul Whitehead and Craig Wood (1976) found the skull weathering from the ~600,000 year-old Upper Bodo sand unit surface of Middle Awash. In 2021, it was coined the holotype of *Homo bodoensis*.
* Saldanha/Elandsfontein cranium: The Saldanha Man, "*Homo saldanensis*", is one of the key *Homo heidelbergensis* specimens, but has been estimated to be 0.5 million years old. It has not been directly dated. The skull preserved a mandible, which was visible in the shifting sands and was found on January 8, 1953 by Keith Jolly and Keith Singer on Elandsfontein farm, near Hopefield. It was published under *H. saldanensis* (Drennan, 1955). It was found to be similar to Kabwe 1 and LH 18 by Singer (1954). Later authors supported the identification as African *Homo heidelbergensis* or *Homo rhodesiensis*. In 2021, it was referred to *Homo bodoensis*.
* Salé: From the site of the same name, Salé is a skull discovered near Rabat Morocco in 1971, tentatively dated to 400,000 and 250,000-200,000 years. Some animals fossils but no stone tools were associated. The skull is small and has fine features but no strong muscle anchors. The cranial capacity is within the range of *Homo erectus* but below *Homo sapiens*. The braincase is long, low and thick-walled, similar to *Homo erectus* The expanded parietals and a rounded rear with a ridge stretching across, however, align with *Homo sapiens*. Asymmetrical markings at the back and base of the cranium imply a pathology. This had led to a difficult classification history, being attributed to both aforementioned species but also as *Homo heidelbergensis* and *H. bodoensis* in 2021.
* Berg Aukas femur: A large, robust proximal femur from Berg Aukas Mine, Namibia was estimated to be up to 93 kilograms (205 pounds) heavy and 7 feet tall[*citation needed*]. It was originally tentatively assigned to an enormous population of *Homo heidelbergensis* but it is more comparable to the Kabwe size range. This individual appears to have done intense activity while maturing, which is likely why this femoral fragment is so massive. However, Lee Berger thinks the material may be too large to assign to *H. rhodesiensis*, but the recent suggested disuse of *Homo heidelbergensis* and reassignment of African individuals to *H. rhodesiensis* suggests it is indeed in the Kabwe group. It is ~2x the size of a derived *Homo sapiens* and has an unknown geological context, so its date is unknown, but it is assumed to be part of the "muddle". The specimen is heavily fossilized. Berger believes there may be a chance this specimen could be another species, which he briefly discusses in an online lecture; however, in the same lecture, he also states he is unsure of what the specimen truly belongs.
* BH-1 or Mala Balanica: A mandible from the Serbian Mala Balanica site. It has many primitive characters comparable to Early Pleistocene mandibles, which has led to historical classification as basal *Homo* sp. and *Homo heidelbergensis*. It is possibly from the Late Pleistocene, which is strange since *H. rhodesiensis* is known only from the MIddle Pleistocene. One possible explanation for this is given in the 2011 paper describing BH-1: that the Balkans may have carried multiple contemporaneous hominin species that may have preserved basal traits in a “hotspot of biodiversity”. Prominent planum alveolare and a thick mandibular coprus are basal. The exomolar sulcus is wide, the flat sublingual fossa is present and the submandibular fossa are poorly defined. It is a partial jaw with teeth, which are small. Derived Neanderthal traits are not seen. Potentially, it is an *H. rhodesiensis*.
* HaZore'a/Hazorea, HAZ-I through V: An Israeli specimen that may represent *H. rhodesiensis* based on a lack of Neanderthal traits and it's similarity to Ceprano. It is described as "Pithecanthropian" (*Homo erectus*), and was found near artifacts and animal bones. HAZ-I is an occipital, HAZ-II is a near-complete occipital, HAZ-III is an incomplete adult occipital, HAZ-IV is a fragmented infant frontal and HAZ-V is the left vertical branch of an adult mandible.
* Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar: A near-complete left parietal once assigned to *Homo erectus*. It was discovered in 1996 alongside Acheulean ovular bifaces 450,000 years old. This date is unusual, and would imply a persistence into the Late Pleistocene, if this specimen belongs to *H. rhodesiensis*. It may be the latter based on a lack of Neanderthal characters, which is seen in Ceprano.
* Gladysvale: In a preserved brown hyena latrine in Gladysvale cave is a 195-257,000 year-old coprolite. In the calcified coprolite is a preserved hair labelled *Homo sp. indet.* by Backwell (2009). This hair, from South Africa, correlates with late *H. rhodesiensis* and early *H. sapiens* in this region.
* Zuttiyeh "Galilee Man": The skull was discovered in 1925, being the first from Western Asia. It was grouped with Skhul and the fossils from Wadi el-Mughara Caves by Arthur Keith and Theodore D. McCown (1939) as *Palaeoanthropus palestinensis*. It is most often recognized as *Homo heidelbergensis* and bears most resemblance to Petralona. It was discovered by Francis Turville-Petre during his excavations (one of the first from this region) from 1925-26, referring to is as the Galilee Skull and describing it as Neanderthal-like. It was originally thought to have been Mousterian, but was from the earlier Acheulo-Yabrudian complex. The face was flat with no Neanderthal-like prognathism. The skull is housed in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem with a cast in the Israel Museum.
* Grotte à Hominidés: A femur, 500,000 years old, was discovered from Grotte à Hominidés, Morocco and has many bite marks on the bone that indicate either scavenging or predation. The bone is suggested to be of *H. rhodesiensis*. This individual was likely consumed by a hyaena, speculated to have happened during a territory dispute.
	+ Grotte des Rhinocéros: Less than a mile away from Grotte à Hominidés, bears evidence of an accumulation of hunted and eaten animals.

## Gallery

Saldanha face reconstruction vector.pngFacial reconstruction of Saldanha.
**Credit: Clumsytiggy on DeviantArt.**Kabwe 1 on display at the Natural History Museum of London.Kabwe 1.BH-1.Hazorea cranial outlines compared to other archaic Homo.Hazorea cranial outlines compared to other archaic Homo.The Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar occipital positioned over the skull of *Homo erectus*, as it was originally identified.Braincases.png**Credit: Clumsystiggy on DeviantArt.**Daka.Zuttiyeh.Grotte à Hominidés femur and evidence for hyaena predation.
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabwe\_1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://in-africa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Trinkaus-2012-AJPA-human-humerus-from-Broken-Hill-Zambia.pdf
3. ↑ https://gizmodo.com/humanitys-ancestor-could-get-a-new-name-homo-bodoensis-1847955954?utm\_source=twitter&utm\_medium=SocialMarketing&utm\_campaign=dlvrit&utm\_content=gizmodo
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1SsIT6CLYo
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21929
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/ChrisStringer65/status/1461250826467516417
7. ↑ https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.24913
8. ↑ https://doi.org/10.1002%2F%28sici%291096-8644%28200004%29111%3A4%3C579%3A%3Aaid-ajpa12%3E3.0.co%3B2-y
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/04/28/ancient-human-bones-show-evidence-of-a-hungry-hyena-encounter/
10. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.1971.9979481
11. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florisbad\_Skull
12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1SsIT6CLYo&ab\_channel=WitsUniversityOFFICIAL
13. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04008
14. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK210004/
15. ↑ https://austhrutime.com/ngandong\_site\_variability\_homo\_erectus\_java.htm
16. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/paleonerd01/journal/Broken-Hill-1-was-not-killed-by-a-gunshot-879179798
17. ↑ Infographic by John Hawks
18. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo\_cranium
19. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saldanha\_man
20. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/place/Sale-paleoanthropological-site-Morocco
21. ↑ https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/sal%C3%A9
22. ↑ https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/african-genesis/body-size-in-african-middle-pleistocene-homo/7FDEDAE502DC94FF55C3DDAF694B61E1#access-block
23. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248416000245
24. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248411000674?via%3Dihub
25. ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/2798732?seq=1
26. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo\_heidelbergensis#Classification
27. ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/27925088
28. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251028764\_Decouvertes\_de\_restes\_humains\_dans\_les\_niveaux\_acheuleens\_de\_Nadaouiyeh\_Ain\_Askar\_El\_Kowm\_Syrie\_Centrale
29. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440309000399
30. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugharet\_el-Zuttiyeh