Homo bodoensis: the new species that some scientists consider a direct ancestor of humans

The confusion period corresponds to the Middle Ice Age, which since 2020 has been known as the Chibanian, which occurred between 774,000 and 129,000 years ago.

However, experts are unsure of which species the various fossils from that period belong to. And in connection with that, it is not entirely clear which species gave rise to which.

The Shibanon period is significant because it was during this period that Homo sapiens appeared in Africa and Neanderthals in Europe.

The problem is that fossils from the period before Homo sapiens and Neanderthals “have not been well identified and understood in different ways,” according to the paper’s authors.

Fossils from the Shayban period are traditionally called Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis, two categories that some experts say are often described in contrasting ways.

“Talking about human evolution during this period was made impossible by the lack of proper terminology that acknowledged human geographic diversity,” says Mirjana Ruksandik, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Winnipeg in Canada and lead author of a new study.

With this argument, Ruksandik and his team re-analyzed a group of Chebane fossils found in Africa and Eurasia, concluding that the classifications of Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis should be discontinued and grouped under a new exclusive label: Homo bodoensis.

The researchers also state that some of the fossils identified as Homo heidelbergensis are actually Neanderthals.

Regarding the class Homo rhodesiensis, they added, it was an unacceptable sign, in part because its name is associated with Cecil Rhodes, the symbol of British imperialism in Africa.

Homo bodoensis takes its name from a skull found in Bodo D’ar, Ethiopia.

Roksandyk and colleagues argue that Homo bodoensis is the direct ancestor of humans and includes most of the early Chipian humans in Africa and some from southeastern Europe.

The study authors hope that the use of the Homo bodoensis class will help facilitate communication and clarity about the Chibanian period.

According to Roxandek told BBC News Mundo (the BBC’s Spanish news service), the Neanderthal classification has already been accepted by the International Committee on Animal Nomenclature, the body responsible for ensuring the correct use of scientific names for animals.

Two experts consulted by BBC News Mundo who did not take part in the survey expressed reservations about the findings.

“I think the authors raise an important, long-standing problem in palaeoanthropology that haunts us all, but they don’t offer a convincing solution,” said paleoanthropologist Zeri Almesgede, professor of biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago.

Alemseged points to the fact that in order to resolve the confusion surrounding Homo heidelbergensis, it is not enough to name a new type of skull.

“It’s not going to help us, what we want, I think, is to find more fossils from Europe and Africa so we can have a better understanding,” says Alemseged.

Jeff Mackey, a professor in the department of anthropology at Ohio State University, is also skeptical.

“Homo heidelbergensis has been an unresolved nomenclature for some time, as no one has been able to agree on which fossils belong to this species,” Mackie says.

“I suspect that, in the same way, the new proposal for Homo bodoensis would be a fossil taxonomic deposit that will not sustain itself in the long term.”

Mackey argues that he is not in favor of trying to “artificially impose” a taxon on emerging subpopulations.

Positions such as Almsegide and Mackie challenge Ruksandek’s proposal, which argues that the concept of Neanderthals “will last a long time”.

“A new taxon name will not exist unless other researchers use it,” says the researcher.

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