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Homo rhodesiensis
A caveman of uncertain age and status
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 in an lead and zinc mine at Broken Hill (now Kabwe), in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) by Swiss miner Tom Zwiglaar in 1921. The specimen was first described by anthropologist Arthur Smith Woodward (1921).
The validity of Homo 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 one or the other of H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens, or H. heidelbergensis.
Moreover, the age of the cranium is rather uncertain. Samples from the skull cannot be used to obtain an exact radiometric date and the site within the mine where the skull was found is now flooded. 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.
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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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