New Postcranial Hominin Fossils from the Central Narmada Valley, India

Abstract

Hathnora in Central Narmada valley (Madhya Pradesh) has earlier yielded a partial skullcap, and two clavicles and a 9th rib of Middle Pleistocene hominin. Recent explorations have brought to light two more human fossils-a humerus and a femur from a new locality, Netankheri. The femur is derived from the Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic horizon as the Hathnora skullcap, and shares similar “archaic” mosaic morphology of Homo heidelbergensis, also attested by new bio-stratigraphic and Palaeolithic data. The humerus is derived from the pre-YTA (~75 Kya) Upper Pleistocene strata in association with unique fossilized bone artifacts and documents the early emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia.

Share and Cite:

Sankhyan, A. , Badam, G. , Dewangan, L. , Chakraborty, S. , Prabha, S. , Kundu, S. & Chakravarty, R. (2012). New Postcranial Hominin Fossils from the Central Narmada Valley, India. Advances in Anthropology, 2, 125-131. doi: 10.4236/aa.2012.23015.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Acharyya, S. K., & Basu, P. K. (1993). Toba ash on the Indian subcontinent and its implications for the correlation of Late Pleistocene Alluvium. Quaternary Research, 40, 10-19. doi:10.1006/qres.1993.1051
[2] Angel, J. L. (1972). A middle Paleolithic temporal bone from Darra-Ikur, Afghanistan. In L. Dupree (Ed.), Prehistoric research in Afghanistan (1959-1966). Transactions of American Philosophical Society, 62, 54-56.
[3] Athreya, S. (2007). Was Homo heidelbergensis in South Asia? A test using the Narmada fossil from central India. In M. D. Petraglia, & B. Allchin (Eds.), The evolution and history of human populations in South Asia (pp. 137-170). New York: Springer Press. doi:10.1007/1-4020-5562-5_7
[4] Badam, G. L., Ganjoo, R. K., Salahuddin, M., & Rajaguru, S. N. (1986). Evaluation of fossil hominin—The maker of Late Acheulean tools at Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, India. Current Science, 55, 143-145.
[5] Badam, G. L. & Sankhyan, A. R. (2009). Evolutionary trends in Narmada fossil fauna. In A. R. Sankhyan (Ed.), Asian perspectives on human evolution (pp. 92-102). New Delhi: Serials Publications.
[6] Barik, S.S., Sahani, R., Prasad, B.V.R., Endicott, P. et al. (2008). Detailed mtDNA genotypes permit a reassessment of the settlement and population structure of the Andaman Islands. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 136, 19-27. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20773
[7] Bermudez de Castro J. M., Carretero, J. M., Garc?a-Gonzalez R, Rodriguez-Garc?a, L., Martinon-Torres, M., Rosell, J., Blasco, R., Mart?nFrances, L., Modesto, M., & Carbonell, E. (2012). Early pleistocene human humeri from the gran dolina-TD6 site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 147, 604-617. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22020
[8] Cameron, D., Patnaik, R., & Sahni, A. (2004). The phylogenetic significance of the Middle Pleistocene Narmada hominin cranium from central India. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 14, 419447. doi:10.1002/oa.725
[9] Carretero, J. M., Haile-Selassie, Y., Rodríguez, R., & Arsuaga, J. L. (2009). A partial distal humerus from the Middle Pleistocene deposits at Bodo, middle awash, Ethiopia. Anthropological Science, 117, 19-31. doi:10.1537/ase.070413
[10] Chandrasekar, A., Kumar, S., Sreenath, J. et al. (2009). Updating phylogeny of mitochondrial DNA macrohaplogroup M in India: Dispersal of modern human in South Asian Corridor. PLoS ONE, 4, 1-13. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007447
[11] Chesner, C. A., Rose, W. I., Drake, A. D. R., & Westgate, J. A. (1991). Eruptive history of earth’s largest quaternary caldera (Toba, Indonesia) clarified. Geology, 19, 200-203. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1991)019<0200:EHOESL>2.3.CO;2
[12] Churchill, S. E. (2007). Endocrine models of skeletal robusticity and the origins of gracility. In A. R. Sankhyan, & V. R. Rao (Eds.), Human origins, genome and people of India (pp. 337-368). New Delhi: Allied Publishers.
[13] Ganjoo, R. K., Rajaguru, S. N., & Gupta, A. (1996). On the problem of age and genesis of Bhedaghat waterfalls (Jabalpur), Madhya Pradesh, Journal Geological Society of India, 48, 421-425.
[14] Van Heteren, A. H., & Sankhyan, A. R. (2009). Hobbits and Pygmies: Trends in evolution. In A. R. Sankhyan (Ed.), Asian perspectives on human evolution (pp. 172-187). New Delhi: Serials Publications.
[15] James, H. V. A., & Petraglia, M. D. (2005). Modern human origins and the evolution of behavior in the later pleistocene record of South Asia. Current Anthropology, 46, 3-27. doi:10.1086/444365
[16] Kennedy, K. A. R. (2000). God-apes and fossil men: The paleoanthropology of South Asia. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.
[17] Kennedy, K. A. R. (2007). The Narmada fossil hominid. In A. R. Sankhyan, & V. R. Rao (Eds.), Human origins, genome and people of India (pp. 188-192). New Delhi: Allied Publishers.
[18] Kennedy, K. A. R., & Deraniyagala, S. U. (1989). Fossil remains of 28,000 year old hominids from Sri Lanka. Current Anthropology, 30, 394-399. doi:10.1086/203757
[19] Kennedy, K. A. R., Sonakia, A., Chiment, J., & Verma, K. K. (1991). Is the Narmada hominin an Indian Homo erectus? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 86, 475-496. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330860404
[20] Khan, A., & Sonakia, A. (1992). Quaternary deposits of Narmada with special reference to the hominid fossil. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 39, 147-154.
[21] De Lumley, H., & Sonakia, A. (1985). Contexte stratigraphique et Archéologique de L’Homme de le Narmada, Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, Inde. L’Anthropologie, 89, 3-12.
[22] Lumley, M. A., & Sonakia, A. (1985). Premiere Découverte D’un Homo erectus Sur Le Continent Indien a Hathnora, Dans la Moyenne vallée de la Narmada. L’Anthropologie, 89, 13-61.
[23] Mallasse, A. D. (2009). Cranial embryogeny and hominin phylogeny. In A. R. Sankhyan (Ed.), Asian perspectives on human evolution (pp. 103-121). New Delhi: Serials Publications.
[24] Oppenheimer, C. (2002). Limited global change due to largest known Quaternary eruption, Toba ~74 Kyr BP. Quaternary Science Review, 21, 1593-1609. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00154-8
[25] Oppenheimer, C. (2003). Ice core and palaeoclimatic evidence for the great volcanic eruption of 1257. International Journal of Climatology, 23, 417-426. doi:10.1002/joc.891
[26] Patnaik, R., Chauhan, P. R, Rao, M. R., Blackwell, B. A. B, Skinner, A. R, Sahni, A., Chauhan, M. S., & Khan, H. S. (2009). New geochronological, paleoclimatological and Paleolithic data from the Narmada Valley hominin locality, Central India. Journal of Human Evolution, 56, 114-133. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.023
[27] Pearson, O. M. (2000). Activity, climate and postcranial robusticity: Implications for modern human origins and scenarios of adaptive change. Current Anthropology, 41, 569-605. doi:10.1086/317382
[28] Petraglia, M. D., & Alsharekh, A. (2003). The middle paleolithic of Arabia: Implications for modern human origins, behaviour and dispersals. Research (Online).
[29] Petraglia, M. D. (2007). Middle paleolithic assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent before and after the Toba Super-Eruption. Science, 317, 114-116. doi:10.1126/science.1141564
[30] Rose, W. I. & Chesner, C. A. (1990). Worldwide dispersal of ash and gases from earth’s largest known eruption: Toba, Sumatra, 75 Ka. Palaeogeography, Palaeo-climatology, Palaeoecology, 89, 269-275. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(90)90068-I
[31] Sankhyan, A. R. (1997a). Fossil clavicle of a Middle Pleistocene hominid from the Central Narmada Valley, India. Journal of Human Evolution, 32, 3-16. doi:10.1006/jhev.1996.0117
[32] Sankhyan, A. R. (1997b). A new human fossil find from the Central Narmada basin and its chronology. Current Science, 73, 1110-1111.
[33] Sankhyan, A. R. (1999). The place of Narmada hominin in the Jigsaw puzzle of human origins. Gondwana Geological Magazine Special Publication, 4, 335-345.
[34] Sankhyan, A. R., (2005). New fossils of Early Stone Age man from Central Narmada Valley. Current Science, 88, 704-707.
[35] Sankhyan, A. R. (2006). On the status of Indian hominoid and hominid fossils. In R. Ray, & V. Jayaswal (Eds.), Status of Prehistoric Studies in the 21st Century in India, Proceedings of 15th UISPP Congress, Lisbon, BAR International Series 1924 (pp. 13-23), Oxford: Archaeo Press.
[36] Sankhyan, A. R. (2010). Pleistocene Hominins & associated findings from central Narmada Valley bearing on the evolution of man in South Asia. Ph.D. Thesis, Chandigarh: Panjab University.
[37] Sankhyan, A. R. & Rao, V. R. (2007). Did ancestors of the Pygmy or Hobbit ever live in Indian heartland? In E. Indriati (Ed.), Recent advances on Southeast Asian paleoanthropology and archeology (pp. 76-89). Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University.
[38] Sankhyan, A. R., Dewangan, L. N., Sahoo, R. H., Chakravarty, R., & Chatterjee, R. (2011). Early prehistoric signatures of man in Bastar region, Central India. Current Science, 101, 1146-1149.
[39] Sonakia, A. (1984). The skullcap of Early Man and associated mammalian fauna from Narmada Valley Alluvium, Hoshangabad area, M.P. (India). Records Geological Survey of India, 113, 159-172.
[40] Tiwari, M. P., & Bhai H. Y. (1997). Quaternary stratigraphy of the Narmada Valley. Geological Survey of India Special Publication, 46, 33-63.
[41] Todd, R. Y., & Churchill, S. E. (2006). Archaic and modern human distal humeral morphology. Journal of Human Evolution, 51, 603616. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.07.006
[42] Trinkaus, E. (2007). Appendicular robusticity and the paleobiology of modern human emergence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 94, 13367-13373. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.24.13367
[43] Trinkaus, E., & Ruff, C. B. (1999). Diaphyseal cross-sectional Geometry of Near Eastern Middle Palaeolithic Humans: The Femur. Journal Archaeological Science, 26, 409-424. doi:10.1006/jasc.1998.0343
[44] Weaver, T. D. (2009). The meaning of Neandertal skeletal morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 6028-16033. doi:10.1073/pnas.0903864106
[45] Westgate, J. A., Shane, P. A. R., Pearce, N. J. C, Perkins, W. T., Korisettar, R., Chesner, C. A., Williams, M. A. J., & Acharyya, S. K. (1998). All Toba tephra occurrences across Peninsular India belong to 75,000 years B.P. Eruptions. Quaternary Research, 50, 107-112. doi:10.1006/qres.1998.1974

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.