Homo sapiens idaltu
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Homo sapiens idaltu Temporal range: (Lower Paleolithic), 0.16 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | H. sapiens |
| Subspecies: | †H. s. idaltu |
| Trinomial name | |
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Homo sapiens idaltu White et al., 2003 |
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Homo sapiens idaltu, also called Herto Man, is the name given to a number of hominid fossils found in 1997 in Herto Bouri, Ethiopia. They date to around 160,000 years ago. "Idaltu" is from a Saho-Afar word and translates to "elder" or "first born".
As "certain cranial traits are outside the range of modern human variation", paleoanthropologists determined that the finds belong to an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens who lived in Africa. According to scientists, "[the fossil findings] predate classic Neanderthals and lack their derived features ... are morphologically and chronologically intermediate between archaic African fossils and later anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans ... represent the probable immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans ... their anatomy and antiquity constitute strong evidence of modern-human emergence in Africa."
The fossilized remains of H. s. idaltu were discovered at Herto Bouri near the Middle Awash site of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle in 1997 by Tim White, but were first unveiled in 2003. Herto Bouri is a region of Ethiopia under volcanic layers. According to radioisotope dating, the layers are between 154,000 and 160,000 years old. Three well preserved crania are accounted for, the best preserved being from an adult male (BOU-VP-16/1) having a brain capacity of 1,450 cm3 (88 cu in). The other crania include another partial adult male and a six-year-old child.
These fossils differ from those of chronologically later forms of early H. sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon found in Europe and other parts of the world, in that their morphology has features, that show resemblances to more primitive African fossils, such as huge and robust skulls, yet a globular shape of the brain-case and the facial features typical of H. sapiens.
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