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Saldanha man also known as Saldanha cranium or Elandsfontein cranium are fossilized remains of an
archaic human
A number of varieties of '' Homo'' are grouped into the broad category of archaic humans in the period that precedes and is contemporary to the emergence of the earliest early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') around 300 ka. Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) f ...
. It is one of the key specimens for ''
Homo heidelbergensis
''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...
''. It has not been dated directly, and is estimated to be roughly 0.5 million years old.
The remains, which included a fragment of lower jaw, were found on an exposed surface between shifting sand dunes on the farm Elandsfontein, which is located near Hopefield, Western Cape, Hopefield, South Africa.
It was found associated with a variety of fossil vertebrates, and initially classified as ''Homo saldanensis'' (Drennan 1955).
Singer (1954) noted close resemblance to Kabwe 1 at Broken Hill (Zambia) and LH 18 at Laetoli (Tanzania).
Comparison with Kabwe 1 specifically, and thus classification as African ''H. heidelbergensis'' (''H. rhodesiensis'') was also regularly supported by later authors.
See also
* List of human fossils
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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1953 archaeological discoveries
Homo heidelbergensis fossils
Prehistoric South Africa