Undated
Sub-Saharan Africa, especially eastern and southern Africa
Homo sapiens afer is a proposed taxonomic category for later Pleistocene human remains from sub-Saharan Africa. It was intended to encompass an ancestral African population from which later indigenous populations were described as divergent specializations. The category includes remains from sites such as Klasies River Mouth, Border Cave, Florisbad, Fish Hoek, Mumbwa, Lukenya Hill, and the Kibish Formation. The excerpt emphasizes that its antiquity, associations, and boundaries remain uncertain, despite an overall anatomically modern morphology.
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The Story
Homo sapiens afer was proposed as a broad category for later Pleistocene human remains from sub-Saharan Africa. Its definition emerged in a context where fossil contexts, cultural associations, and chronological frameworks were often poorly established. The category was intended to include an ancestral population related to later African indigenous populations, but the excerpt presents this interpretation as provisional and rejects an alternative claim that all earliest anatomically modern fossil hominids evolved from a separate Boskop category.
The proposed record extends across eastern and southern Africa. Specimens attributed to the group include remains from Bushman Rock Shelter and Mumbwa at approximately 29,000 years BP, Lukenya Hill at approximately 18,000 years BP, Matjes River at approximately 10,000 years BP, Border Cave at approximately 45,000 and perhaps 60,000 years BP, Fish Hoek at more than 35,000 years BP, Florisbad at approximately 39,000 years BP, and Klasies River Mouth Cave 1, for which an amino-acid racemization estimate of approximately 70,000–80,000 years was proposed.
The remains are described as anatomically modern overall, with substantial overlap with later prehistoric and living indigenous populations of sub-Saharan Africa. Klasies River Mouth may preserve the oldest demonstrably documented specimens assigned to the category, from occupation horizons above a raised beach. Border Cave remains have substantial Upper Pleistocene antiquity and are associated with Final Middle Stone Age or pre-Early Late Stone Age assemblages, although their recovery circumstances limited contextual certainty. The excerpt nevertheless stresses that the taxon’s antiquity and internal definition remain unresolved.
Undated
Sub-Saharan Africa, especially eastern and southern Africa
Homo sapiens afer is a proposed taxonomic category for later Pleistocene human remains from sub-Saharan Africa. It was intended to encompass an ancestral African population from which later indigenous populations were described as divergent specializations. The category includes remains from sites such as Klasies River Mouth, Border Cave, Florisbad, Fish Hoek, Mumbwa, Lukenya Hill, and the Kibish Formation. The excerpt emphasizes that its antiquity, associations, and boundaries remain uncertain, despite an overall anatomically modern morphology.
Continue exploring
The Story
Homo sapiens afer was proposed as a broad category for later Pleistocene human remains from sub-Saharan Africa. Its definition emerged in a context where fossil contexts, cultural associations, and chronological frameworks were often poorly established. The category was intended to include an ancestral population related to later African indigenous populations, but the excerpt presents this interpretation as provisional and rejects an alternative claim that all earliest anatomically modern fossil hominids evolved from a separate Boskop category.
The proposed record extends across eastern and southern Africa. Specimens attributed to the group include remains from Bushman Rock Shelter and Mumbwa at approximately 29,000 years BP, Lukenya Hill at approximately 18,000 years BP, Matjes River at approximately 10,000 years BP, Border Cave at approximately 45,000 and perhaps 60,000 years BP, Fish Hoek at more than 35,000 years BP, Florisbad at approximately 39,000 years BP, and Klasies River Mouth Cave 1, for which an amino-acid racemization estimate of approximately 70,000–80,000 years was proposed.
The remains are described as anatomically modern overall, with substantial overlap with later prehistoric and living indigenous populations of sub-Saharan Africa. Klasies River Mouth may preserve the oldest demonstrably documented specimens assigned to the category, from occupation horizons above a raised beach. Border Cave remains have substantial Upper Pleistocene antiquity and are associated with Final Middle Stone Age or pre-Early Late Stone Age assemblages, although their recovery circumstances limited contextual certainty. The excerpt nevertheless stresses that the taxon’s antiquity and internal definition remain unresolved.