HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ceprano Man, Argil, and Ceprano Calvarium, refers to a
Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...
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 ...
fossil, a single skull cap ( calvaria), accidentally unearthed in a highway construction project in 1994 near
Ceprano Ceprano ( Central-Northern Latian dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, part of the Lazio region of central Italy. It is south of Rome and about north of Naples. History Ceprano was part of the ...
in the
province of Frosinone The Province of Frosinone ( it, Provincia di Frosinone) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy, with 91 ''comuni'' (singular: ''comune''; see Comuni of the Province of Frosinone). Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area ...
, Italy. Although damaged by a bulldozer it was recognized, documented and described by archeologist Italo Biddittu, who happened to be present when the fossil came to light. and Mallegni et al. (2003) proposed the introduction of a new human species, dubbed ''Homo cepranensis'', based on the fossil. although other paleontologists have classified it as belonging to ''
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 ...
''. Mounier et al. (2011) have identified the fossil as "an appropriate ancestral stock" of ''H. heidelbergensis'', "preceding the appearance of regional autapomorphic features". It is associated specifically with '' H. rhodesiensis.'' The holotype (see image) of ''Homo cepranenis'' has a unique combination of morphological features: 1: incomplete sulcus supraorbitalis, 2: frontal tuber weakly developed medially shifted, 3: supraorbital region medially concave, 4: intermediate position of the external auditory meatus in regard to the processus zygomaticus temporalis); 5 and 6 (blue) = more derived traits (i.e. 5: straight torus occipitalis transversus, 6: medio-lateral concavity of the articular tubercle); 7 to 10 (green) = more primitive traits (i.e. 7: petro-tympanic crest orientated downward, 8: opisthocranion coincident with inion, 9: processus retromastoideus, 10: torus angularis parietalis. The fossil was first estimated to be between 690,000 to 900,000 years old determined on the basis of regional correlations and a series of absolute dates. Taking the circumstances of the recovery of the fossil into account A. Ascenzi (2001) stated: "...given the absence in the sediments containing the cranium of any leucitic remnants of the more recent volcanic activity known in the region—that are referred to the range between 100 and 700 ka and the presence above the cranium itself of a clear stratigraphic unconformity that marks the lowest limit of the sandy leucitic pyroclasts, an age between 800 and 900 ka is at present our best chronological estimate. ic After clarification of its geostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and archaeological relation to the well known and nearby
Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped " hand axes" associate ...
site of Fontana Ranuccio, dated to , Muttoni et al. (2009) suggested that Ceprano is most likely about 450,000 years old - the mid of the
Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...
. The cranial features on the bone seem to be intermediate between those found on '' Homo erectus'' and those of later species, such as ''
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 ...
'', that dominated Europe long before ''
Homo neanderthalensis Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
''. A 2011 study suggested that it was ancestral to ''Homo neanderthalensis''.


Significant traits

Features 1 to 4 (black) traits that are more exclusive of Mid-Pleistocene specimens, i.e. * 1: incomplete sulcus supraorbitalis, * 2: frontal tuber weakly developed medially shifted, * 3: supraorbital region medially concave, * 4: intermediate position of the external auditory meatus in regard to the processus zygomaticus temporalis; Features 5 and 6 (blue) = more derived traits, i.e. * 5: straight torus occipitalis transversus, * 6: medio-lateral concavity of the articular tubercle; Features 7 to 10 (green) = more primitive traits, i.e. * 7: petro-tympanic crest orientated downward, * 8: opisthocranion coincident with inion, * 9: processus retromastoideus, 10: torus angularis parietalis.


See also

*
Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...
*
Archaic humans 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 ...


References


External links


Human Timeline (Interactive)
Smithsonian,
National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
(August 2016). {{Taxonbar, from=Q494278 Early species of Homo Homo heidelbergensis fossils Lower Paleolithic Paleolithic Europe Fossil taxa described in 2003 Prehistoric Italy People from the Province of Frosinone Archaeological discoveries in Italy 1994 in Italy 1994 archaeological discoveries 1994 in paleontology Fossils of Italy