Florisbad and human population succession in Southern Africa

Abstract

The human cranium recovered at Florisbad in 1932 is compared with other Sub-Saharan African hominid remains from Broken Hill, the Omo and Klasies River Mouth. The Florisbad frontal is very broad, but despite this breadth and differences in zygomatic form, there is a definite resemblance to archaic Homo sapiens from Broken Hill. There is also some similarity to both Omo I and Omo II, while fragmentary remains from Klasies River are more lightly built and hence more modern in appearance. These impressions are strengthened by measurement and statistical analysis, which demonstrates that Florisbad and Broken Hill are distant from recent African populations. Even if Florisbad is less archaic than the earlier (Middle Pleistocene?) hominid, it is not noticeably Bushman-like. New dates suggestive of early Upper Pleistocene antiquity also place Florisbad securely in a lineage containing Broken Hill, and there is no evidence to support special ties with any one group of living Africans.