Homo rudolfensis
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Homo rudolfensis is a true transitional form linking australopithecines and humans dating from 1.8 million years ago or earlier. Very primitive stone tools have been found contemporary with H. rudolfensis but we cannot prove which species made them.
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[edit] Morphology
H. rudolfensis may have been a type of australopithecine with a larger brain, [1][2] the exact point of transition between Australopithecus and Homo is inevitably arbitrary. H. rudolfensis had a larger brain than Homo habilis [3] and some development of Broca’s area, later associated with speech though we do not know whether H. rudolfensis could talk. Furthermore the areas of the brain which modern humans use for logical thinking, future planning and decision making were developed in H. rudolfensis. It was taller than a typical australopithecine, about as tall as modern humans.[4][5]
[edit] Homo habilis and rudolfensis compared
Homo rudolfensis is very similar to Homo habilis and some scientists see H. rudolfensis as a type of H. habilis. One may have been the male and the other the female. [6] Comparing patterns of dental wear for H. rudolfensis and H. habilis suggest the two had different diets and may indicate different species. [7] Recent fossil finds suggest that Homo rudolfensis was a distinct species and not a different type of Homo habilis. [8]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Homo Rudolfensis
- ↑ Homo rudolfensis
- ↑ handprint.com: Homo rudolfensis
- ↑ Homo rudolfensis: A New Kind of Animal
- ↑ As soft tissue does not fossilise readily, it is not currently known if H. rudolfensis had a very shiny nose.
- ↑ archaeologyinfo.com: Homo rudolfensis
- ↑ Becoming Human: Homo rudolfensis Essay
- ↑ New human species identified from Kenya fossils