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Homo rhodesiensis - A caveman of uncertain age and status
By Eugene M. McCarthy, Ph.D.
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(click to enlarge)
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Homo rhodesiensis is based on a fairly complete cranium (known as the Kabwe Skull or Broken Hill 1) of a large-brained individual found at Broken Hill (now Kabwe), in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and first described by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1921.
The validity of H. rhodesiensis as a distinct type of hominid is not well accepted and it has been variously suggested that the skull on which it is based should be assigned to H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, or H. sapiens, or H. heidelbergensis. Moreover, the age of the cranium is rather uncertain. It is believed to be of Late Pleistocene age (between 120,000 and 300,000 years years old), but this doesn't narrow things down particularly much. A great deal of speculation on this topic has led nowhere. No one really knows what the true significance of this skull might be, or even how old it is. All that anyone can say for sure is that Homo rhodesiensis is a clear example of a caveman of uncertain age and status.
 | | Location of Kabwe |
Etymology: The Latin word homo means "man" or "human being." The Latin suffix -ensis was added to to rhodesi- (from the former country of Rhodesia in which the type specimen was found) to produce Homo rhodesiensis, meaning "man, or human being, from Rhodesia." Rhodesia itself was named for the diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes.
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