The Hindu : International : Fragments of Homo erectus skull found

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 03, 2004

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International

Fragments of Homo erectus skull found

NEW YORK, JULY 2. Scientists have found parts of a Homo erectus skull about a million years old in an area in Kenya where hand tools of this age were commonly found but fossils were rare. In an article published on Friday in the journal Science, Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museums of Kenya, and four other scientists report that the skull fragments dated to between 970,000 and 900,000 years ago. The bones are of a small individual, a ``near adult,'' they said.

Scientists disagree as to whether Homo erectus is a single species. There is also disagreement as to whether Homo erectus is an ancestor of Homo sapiens, modern man, or occupies a more distant position in human evolution.

The new find does not settle any of these disputes, although Mr. Potts says that the ways in which it differs from other Homo erectus fossils confirm the high degree of variation in this group.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz, an anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh, who wrote a commentary on the research in the same issue of Science, also said that the skull ``gives us more evidence of human diversity.'' But, he said, it did not settle the question of how many species come under the Homo erectus umbrella.

New York Times News Service

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