Late Pleistocene human skull from Hofmeyr, South Africa, and modern human origins

Science. 2007 Jan 12;315(5809):226-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1136294.

Abstract

The lack of Late Pleistocene human fossils from sub-Saharan Africa has limited paleontological testing of competing models of recent human evolution. We have dated a skull from Hofmeyr, South Africa, to 36.2 +/- 3.3 thousand years ago through a combination of optically stimulated luminescence and uranium-series dating methods. The skull is morphologically modern overall but displays some archaic features. Its strongest morphometric affinities are with Upper Paleolithic (UP) Eurasians rather than recent, geographically proximate people. The Hofmeyr cranium is consistent with the hypothesis that UP Eurasians descended from a population that emigrated from sub-Saharan Africa in the Late Pleistocene.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Africa South of the Sahara
  • Asia
  • Emigration and Immigration
  • Europe
  • Fossils*
  • Humans
  • Mandible / anatomy & histology
  • Maxilla / anatomy & histology
  • Molar / anatomy & histology
  • Paleodontology
  • Skull* / anatomy & histology
  • South Africa
  • Time