An overlooked skull fragment among South African fossils reinforces the very early presence of Homo erectus far from East Africa.
The discovery comes from Drimolen, a site located about 40 km northwest of Johannesburg. Its deposits date to approximately 2.04 to 1.95 million years ago. They have yielded numerous remains of early representatives of the human lineage, but some of these fossils had never been described in detail.
Skull of Homo erectus
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Researchers revisited the study of 18 skull and jaw fragments discovered between 1990 and 2019. Some had therefore been waiting for several decades in collections. Their anatomy was compared with that of fossils already attributed to different species.
Among them, a fragment named DNH 127 has attracted particular attention. It comes from the back of an adult skull and displays characteristics compatible with Homo erectus. This attribution provides a new independent piece of evidence supporting the presence of this species at Drimolen approximately 2 million years ago.
This presence had already been proposed based on DNH 134, a juvenile skull discovered at the same site. Its attribution to Homo erectus had nevertheless sparked debate, particularly because it belonged to a young individual. DNH 127 is significant because it comes from an adult and therefore offers another point of comparison.
The study does not concern Homo erectus alone. Of the 18 fossils described, 14 are attributed to Paranthropus robustus, another hominin species present in the region during the same period. Three fragments remain too difficult to identify more precisely.
In other words, several human forms lived in this part of Africa at a very early period. Homo erectus and Paranthropus robustus inhabited the same environment, even though these fossils do not prove that the individuals directly encountered one another. Above all, the site offers a rare snapshot of a period when several lineages coexisted.
The new Paranthropus remains also provide information about variation within this species. The researchers identified a particular feature on the jaw that could distinguish the Drimolen population from populations found at other South African sites. These differences could correspond to gradual changes over time.
The Drimolen fossils remain accessible to researchers, and their three-dimensional scans will allow further comparisons with other African discoveries.