He’s A Previously Unknown Human Relative Of Ours From Southern Africa, Dubbed Nutcracker Man
In 1949, a fossil jaw was discovered in a cave and has now been identified as belonging to a previously unknown human relative species from southern Africa, dubbed the “nutcracker man.” The 1.4-million-year-old fossil jaw was found at the Swartkrans archaeological site.
“Swartkrans is thus a key site to uncover the extent of hominin diversity and understand the potential interactions among various hominin species,” said Clément Zanolli, the lead author of the study and a paleoanthropologist at the University of Bordeaux in France.
The jaw bone is believed to belong to an early human species from the genus Paranthropus. The extinct human relative was nicknamed “nutcracker man” because of its huge jaw and massive molars.
At the time Paranthropus was alive, several hominins existed. Our genus, Homo, appeared at least 2.8 million years ago, while our species, Homo sapiens, dates back to at least 300,000 years ago. Early Homo species overlapped with Paranthropus.
Previously, scientists knew of only three Paranthropus species: P. aethiopicus, P. boisei, and P. robustus. They lived between one million and 2.7 million years ago. Now, they can add another one to the list.
Initially, scientists thought the jaw bone belonged to a new species called Telanthropus capensis. But since the 1960s, they believed it was from an early human species known as Homo ergaster.
But after the research team performed X-ray scans of the jaw and other fossils found at the archaeological site and created virtual 3D models of the specimens, they concluded that the jaw did not belong to H. ergaster. Instead, it was from a previously unknown species of Paranthropus.
Its external structure looked a lot like H. ergaster, but there were a few key differences. For example, the jaw was much thicker than any other Homo jaw. Additionally, the molars were long and rectangular, while the molars of Homo are more rounded.
When the researchers examined the internal structure of the fossil, specifically the portion of dentine, they discovered that it did not match any known Homo specimen. Dentine is the hard, bony tissue that makes up most of a tooth and is located below the enamel.
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Based on the jaw shape, the crowns, and the roots of the teeth, the fossil likely belonged to Paranthropus.
However, it was different from other Paranthropus specimens since the jaw and teeth were much smaller. So, the researchers determined that it belonged to a new species, which they named P. capensis.
At least two Paranthropus species coexisted in southern Africa about 1.4 million years ago—P. robustus and P. capensis.
They likely inhabited different ecological niches with varying diets. The newly discovered species may have split from P. robustus over two million years ago.
The study was published in the Journal of Human Evolution.
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