Boskop Man

The Boskop Man is an anatomically modern human fossil discovered in the early 20th century in Southern Africa, dated to between 30,000 and 10,000 years old.

Discovered in 1913, the fossil was at first described as Homo capensis and considered a separate human species by Broom (1918),^[1] but by the 1950s it was recognized as representative of the modern Capoid (Khoi-San, at the time known as Hottentots and Bushmen) type.^[2]

Discovery

Most theories regarding a "Boskopoid" type were based on the eponymous Boskop cranium, which was found in 1913 by two Afrikaner farmers. They offered it to Frederick William FitzSimons for examination and further research. Many similar skulls were subsequently discovered by paleontologists such as Robert Broom, William Pycraft and Raymond Dart.

The original skull was incomplete consisting of frontal and parietal bones, with a partial occiput, one temporal and a fragment of mandible.

Fossils of similar type are known from from Zitzikaa (1921), Matjes River (1934), Fish Hoek and Springbrok Flats,^[3] Skhul, Qazeh, Border Cave, Brno,^{[clarification needed]} Tuinplaas, and other locations.^[4]

Crainal capacity

The Boskop Man fossils are notable for their unusually large cranial capacity, described inBig Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence (2008) by Gary Lynch and Richard Granger. Lynch and Granger claim that the head of a Boskop Man would have been some 30 percent larger than that of modern humans, giving them a large forebrain, which, they claimed, in turn may indicate a relatively high general intelligence.

Reported crainal capacity ranges between 1,700 and 2,000 cm³.^[5]

Discover magazine gave Lynch and Granger's book a "fairly positive review" and reprinted an excerpt. John Hawks (2008) criticized the use of the term "Boskopoid" and the portrayal of "Boskops" in the Discover article.^[5]

References

^ FitzSimons, FW (1915). "Palaeolithic man in South Africa". Nature. 95 (2388): 615–616. doi:10.1038/095615c0. Haughton, S; Thomson, R. B.; Peringuey, L. (1917). "Preliminary note on the ancient human skull remains from the Transvaal". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 6: 1–14. doi:10.1080/00359191709520168. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |name-list-format= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help) Broom, R (1918). "The Evidence Afforded by the Boskop Skull of a New Species of Primitive Man (Homo capensis)". Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. 23: 65–79. Dart, R (1923). "Boskop remains from the south-east African coast". Nature. 112 (2817): 623–625. doi:10.1038/112623a0. Dart, R (1940). "Recent discoveries bearing on human history in southern Africa". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 70 (1): 13–27. doi:10.2307/2844198. JSTOR 2844198.
^ "...an isolated cranial fragment found 40 years ago near the surface in a dubious geological horizon, unassociated with implements and fauna, ... there has been developed conjecture after conjecture, speculation on speculation ... the features exhibited by the Boskop skull and those which have been termed 'Boskopoid' are not specific to any 'new' single, African racial group, and in Africa they may be found in varying degrees in the Bushmen, Hottentots or Bush-Hottentot admixtures." Singer R. 1958. The Boskop 'Race' Problem. Man. 58:173-178. JSTOR 2795854
^ Galloway, A (1937). "The Characteristics of the Skull of the Boskop Physical Type". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 23: 31–47. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330230105.
^ Schwartz, Jeffrey H.; Tattersall, Ian; Holloway, Ralph L.; Broadfield, Douglas C.; Yuan, Michael S. (2003). The Human Fossil Record. ISBN 978-0-471-67864-9.
^ ^a ^b "The skull is a large one, with an estimated endocranial volume of 1800 ml. But it is hardly complete, and arguments about its overall size -- exacerbated by its thickness, which confuses estimates based on regression from external measurements -- have ranged from 1700 to 2000 ml. It is large, but well within the range of sizes found in recent males."The "amazing" Boskops Return of the "amazing" Boskops "The portrayal of 'Boskops' in the Discover excerpt is so out of line with anthropology of the last forty years, that I am amazed the magazine printed it. I am unaware of any credible biological anthropologist or archaeologist who would confirm their description of the 'Boskopoids,' except as an obsolete category from the history of anthropology." He does note that the web editor at Discover replied that "the excerpt was intended to run identified as a 'controversial idea, but that context didn't come across as intended.'", and that "[t]he web page has been changed to make that context clear".

Pycraft, W (1925). "On the Calvaria Found at Boskop, Transvaal, in 1913, and Its Relationship to Cromagnard and Negroid Skulls". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 55: 179–198. doi:10.2307/2843700. JSTOR 2843700.
Tobias, P (1985). "History of Physical Anthropology in Southern Africa". Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 28: 1–52. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330280503.

External links

[1] FitzSimons, FW (1915). "Palaeolithic man in South Africa". Nature. 95 (2388): 615–616. doi:10.1038/095615c0. Haughton, S; Thomson, R. B.; Peringuey, L. (1917). "Preliminary note on the ancient human skull remains from the Transvaal". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 6: 1–14. doi:10.1080/00359191709520168. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |name-list-format= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help) Broom, R (1918). "The Evidence Afforded by the Boskop Skull of a New Species of Primitive Man (Homo capensis)". Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. 23: 65–79. Dart, R (1923). "Boskop remains from the south-east African coast". Nature. 112 (2817): 623–625. doi:10.1038/112623a0. Dart, R (1940). "Recent discoveries bearing on human history in southern Africa". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 70 (1): 13–27. doi:10.2307/2844198. JSTOR 2844198.

[2] "...an isolated cranial fragment found 40 years ago near the surface in a dubious geological horizon, unassociated with implements and fauna, ... there has been developed conjecture after conjecture, speculation on speculation ... the features exhibited by the Boskop skull and those which have been termed 'Boskopoid' are not specific to any 'new' single, African racial group, and in Africa they may be found in varying degrees in the Bushmen, Hottentots or Bush-Hottentot admixtures." Singer R. 1958. The Boskop 'Race' Problem. Man. 58:173-178. JSTOR 2795854

[3] Galloway, A (1937). "The Characteristics of the Skull of the Boskop Physical Type". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 23: 31–47. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330230105.

[Schwartz-4] Schwartz, Jeffrey H.; Tattersall, Ian; Holloway, Ralph L.; Broadfield, Douglas C.; Yuan, Michael S. (2003). The Human Fossil Record. ISBN 978-0-471-67864-9.

[Hawks-5] "The skull is a large one, with an estimated endocranial volume of 1800 ml. But it is hardly complete, and arguments about its overall size -- exacerbated by its thickness, which confuses estimates based on regression from external measurements -- have ranged from 1700 to 2000 ml. It is large, but well within the range of sizes found in recent males."The "amazing" Boskops Return of the "amazing" Boskops "The portrayal of 'Boskops' in the Discover excerpt is so out of line with anthropology of the last forty years, that I am amazed the magazine printed it. I am unaware of any credible biological anthropologist or archaeologist who would confirm their description of the 'Boskopoids,' except as an obsolete category from the history of anthropology." He does note that the web editor at Discover replied that "the excerpt was intended to run identified as a 'controversial idea, but that context didn't come across as intended.'", and that "[t]he web page has been changed to make that context clear".

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