November 4, 2021

The Bodo 1 skull (Image courtesy Jeffrey H. Schwartz / Roksandic et al.)

An article published in the journal “Evolutionary Anthropology” reports a research on hominins of the Middle Pleistocene period that proposes the species Homo bodoensis as a classification for a series of hominin fossils discovered in Africa and some discovered in some areas of Europe. A team of researchers led by paleoanthropologist Mirjana Roksandic of the University of Winnipeg, Canada, reached this conclusion after reassessing fossils discovered over the years in Africa and Eurasia. A consequence of this proposal is the elimination of the species Homo heidelbergensis and Homo rhodesiensis with their often inconsistent definitions. A series of fossils attributed to the species Homo heidelbergensis would be Neanderthals.