FOSSIL SKULLS STONE TOOLS OVERVIEW HUMAN EVOLUTION 13 BIG QUESTIONS
Homo helmei
Homo helmei
Bradshaw Foundation Origins Archive
 
Homo helmei is described as 'archaic' Homo sapien, living 260,000 years ago. The single partial skull was discovered in 1932 by Professor T.F. Dreyer at the Florisbad site near Bloemfontein in South Africa. The 'Florisbad Skull' was classified as Homo helmei to mark its distinctiveness from other fossil Homo sapiens. It may be an intermediate form between Homo heidelbergensis and Homo sapiens [Brink 1988]. The skull consists of frontal and parietal pieces and an incomplete left side of the face (Conroy, 1997).
HOMO HELMEI
HOMO HELMEI
Homo helmei South Africa
Genus: Homo
Species: Homo helmei
Other Names: Florisbad Skull
Time Period: 260,000 years ago
Characteristics: Tool Maker, Large Brain
Fossil Evidence: Florisbad Skull, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Bradshaw Foundation

HOMO HELMEI
 
Homo helmei was 'beetle-browed' [sullen or unfriendly in appearance], the same size as us, and with an average brain volume slightly larger than ours at 1,400 cm3. They represented the plateau as far as dramatic brain growth was concerned. They were also associated with the start of one of the most important revolutions in human technology, known as the Middle Palaeolithic. A larger and longer out-of-Africa movement, during a warm period, saw Homo helmei spreading throughout Eurasia 250,000 years ago [Oppenheimer 2003].