The phylogenetic significance of the Middle Pleistocene Narmada hominin cranium from central India

Abstract

A parsimony analysis of the Narmada cranium from central India and a number of other demes and species of Homo concludes that the Narmada hominin shares a closer relationship with the European Steinheim specimen, than with Asian H. erectus or H. pekinensis. This suggests that the population represented by the Narmada cranium is likely to have had its origins in Europe rather than in Asia. Overall the available evidence supports an 'Out of Africa' scenario, as the early Asian hominins belong to a distinct clade which has no extant descendants and thus appear to represent an evolutionary 'dead end'. The later African and European hominins are defined by a clade including early H. sapiens from Africa. The main difference between these two distinct clades is that the H. erectus lineage is defined by increasing degrees of neuro-orbital disjunction associated with increased anterior cranial base extension, while the lineage leading to early H. sapiens is characterized by the opposite condition of reduced neuro-orbital disjunction associated with increased anterior cranial base flexion. While there is also evidence of differential patterns of head and neck musculature between these two clades, they are of secondary importance. Preliminary dating of bovid remains found in association with the hominin cranium by the gamma spectrometric U-series dating technique suggests a tentative minimum age of not less than 236,000 years. This is in agreement with evidence from biostratigraphical studies of the Boulder Conglomerate, which place these deposits in the Middle Pleistocene.

Out of Africa: new hypotheses and evidence for the dispersal ofHomo sapiensalong the Indian Ocean rim

“…Re-evaluation of the calvarium indicates shared morphological traits with Homo heidelbergensis and H. erectus, though it may be best classified as an indeterminate form of Homo (Athreya 2007). Geological, palaeontological and archaeological data suggest a late Middle Pleistocene association of the fossil (Kennedy 2000), with an age of 236 ka (Cameron et al 2004), though recent research indicates a potential age of 160-85 ka (Patnaik et al 2009). A key point here is that the archaic hominin is associated with Late Acheulean artefacts.…”

The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son valley, north-central India: Changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene

“…In fact, no hominin fossils have been discovered in India that date to between $150-250 ka (Homo heidelbergensis from the Narmada valley in central India; Kennedy, 2001;p. 167;Cameron et al, 2004) and $31 ka (Homo sapiens in Sri Lanka; Deraniyagala, 1992). Given this paucity of hominin fossils, it is currently not possible to establish the temporal and spatial pattern of hominin occupation in South Asia during the Upper Pleistocene.…”

The southern dispersal hypothesis and the South Asian archaeological record: Examination of dispersal routes through GIS analysis

“…Unfortunately, fossils are extremely rare. In the Narmada Valley, a hominin calvarium has been classiWed as Homo heidelbergensis (Cameron et al, 2004;Kennedy, 2000;Rightmire, 2001), and dated via associated fauna to 250-300 kya. For the rest of prehistory in South Asia, lithic assemblages and a scattering of other artifacts have been used to deWne temporal units on the basis of technological sophistication, with reWnement contributed by relative and absolute dating methods.…”