A species of the genus Homo native to the Boskop region of South Africa between 10,000 and 30,000 B.C., averaging between 5.0 and 6.0 feet in height and boasting of an average cranial capacity of 1500-1800 cubic centimeters versus the more modest average of 1250-1500 cc for modern homo sapiens.
Boskop man exhibited a high cranial-to-facial ratio approaching 5-to-1 versus the modern ratio of 3-to-1. Consequently Boskop man exhibited a high degree of neotony with a cranial-to-facial ratio more appropriate to that of a two to three-year-old homo sapiens child.
The Boskop people are to many archaeologists inexplicable because no evidence remains of the factors that must have been present in their environment which over time selected for the appearance of out-sized brains. The Boskop were, according to Loren Eiseley, both negroid and neotonous in appearance and may well represent the highest level yet achieved in the evolutionary development of the genus homo.
The Boskop people are to many archaeologists inexplicable because no evidence remains of the factors that must have been present in their environment which over time selected for the appearance of out-sized brains. The Boskop were, according to Loren Eiseley, both negroid and neotonous in appearance and may well represent the highest level yet achieved in the evolutionary development of the genus homo.
by Russell Clark March 15, 2008