A novel paper print inSciencedetails a 1.8 million year former skull . The skull find has stimulate up debate amongst palaeoanthropologists , as the writer of the new theme have asserted that the hominid skull shows that Homo habilis , Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus are all part of a single evolving lineage that led to modern humans . Other scientist disagree however , say there is still grounds that at least three discrete species of humans co - existed in Africa .
The newfangled cranium , strike in Dmanisi , ( D4500 ) , together with its submaxilla ( D2600 ) , represents the world ’s first completely preserved hominid skull from the other Pleistocene . The braincase has a pocket-size brain case at 546 three-dimensional centimetres and has a expectant prognathous human face , meaning that its jaws project beyond the upper part of its face . It seems to have airless structural similarities ( geomorphological affinities ) with the earliest know Homo fossil establish in Africa .
The Dmanisi sample is now write of five crania , and shows direct grounds for full variation within the other Homo populations - but crucially , within the same species . This variance within the Homo population is similar to that seen within modern Pan ( chimpanzee ) radical .
The author conclude that the diversity realise in the African fogey phonograph recording around 1.8 million years ago most probably ruminate variation between group of a unmarried evolving lineage rather than metal money diversity . That unmarried lineage is Homo erectus , with specimens previously impute to H. ergaster reclassify as a chronosubspecies , H. erectus ergaster . As the Dmanisi universe most probably originated from an Early Pleistocene ( 2.58 – 0.78 million years ago ) expansion of the H. erectus lineage from Africa , the writer target it within H. e. ergaster and formally denominate it as H. e. e. georgicus , come to to the samples ’ geographical location . H. habilis and H. rudolfensis fogy require further examination to determine whether they too belong to a single evolving Homo lineage . key out the hominid mathematical group and identifying variation within the populations will aid in realise the evolution and dissemination of former Homo .
Not all palaeoanthroplogists agree with the generator of this new paper . Aprevious papersought to confirm taxonomic variety in early Homo . The Nature newspaper show that three newly discovered fossils , aged between 1.78 and 1.95 million years ( Myr ) old , showed that there were two contemporary species of early Homo , in improver to Homo erectus , in the other Pleistocene of eastern Africa . This determination tote up further support to the classification of a skull found in 1972 as a separate species of human , Homo rudolfensis . The skull was the only instance of this coinage which contributes to the contention over its lineage .
A co - source of the Nature study , Fred Spoor , toldBBC Newsthat Lordkipanidze et al . ’s analytic thinking of the cranium describe the soma of the face and braincase was in broad and sweeping term , and that those Homo sapiens are not defined using such a broad overview . Very specific gadget characteristic had been used to defineH. erectus , H. habilisandH. rudolfensis , and these were notwere not indicate by the landmarks that the team used .
It is clear from this recent finding and previous work that the Dmanisi web site still has much more to propose in discoveries of our lineage .
