🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE: Skull finds can change the way we think about human origins — but often not without controversy.
Specimen: Skull 5First described: 2013
A particularly robust lower jaw was found in 2000 and initially described as an entirely new species,. In 2013 in Science, however, researchers announced they’d unearthed the rest of the individual’s skull, now known as Skull 5. Having the complete skull led the team to do an about-face, no pun intended.
Numerous critics took on the team’s conclusions, including Spoor, who authored the provocatively titledHomo erectusH. erectus The most recent round of digging at the site, known as Jebel Irhoud, began in 2004 and included a more rigorous approach to dating the additional fossils found. The results were striking: The hominins, which included a partial face and braincase known as Irhoud 10, were about 315,000 years old., researchers announced that Irhoud 10’s facial features were within the range of modern humans.
But then Harvati and her team looked at both skulls and conducted more advanced dating to determine their age. The results surprised even the researchers. As for the disparity in age between the two fossils, even Harvati first assumed they were contemporaries — until results showed otherwise. The partial skulls and other, unidentified bone fragments were preserved in breccia, a mishmash of gravel and random debris washed into and through the cave system and then cemented together over time.
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