| Homo sapiens idaltu | |
|---|---|
| |
| An artist's illustration of Homo sapiens idaltu | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | Homo sapiens |
| Subspecies: | †H. s. idaltu |
| Trinomial name | |
| Homo sapiens idaltu White et al., 2003 | |
Homo sapiens idaltu is an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens that lived almost 160,000 years ago in Pleistocene Africa. "Idaltu" is from the Saho-Afar word meaning "elder" or "first born". Its validity is currently under debate.
Discovery[]
The fossilized remains of idaltu were discovered at Herto Bouri near the middle Awash site of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle in 1997 by Tim White, but were first unveiled in 2003. Herto Bouri is a region of Ethiopia Under Volcanic layers. According to radioisotope dating, the layers are between 154,000 and 160,00 years old. Three well preserved crania are accounted for, the best preserved being from an adult male (BOU-VP16/1) having a brain capacity of 1,450 cm3 (88 cu in) the other carnia include another partial adult male and six year-old child.