Ancestral Whispers@Sulkalmakh
Facial reconstruction of a 315,000-year-old man from Morocco
The first discovery at the Jebel Irhoud site was made in 1961, when a remarkably complete skull of an archaic human was unearthed. Subsequent excavations revealed another cranial vault, the mandible of a child, and several additional bone fragments.
The site has been dated multiple times, with estimates ranging from 30,000 to 190,000 years ago. By 2007, the accepted age was approximately 160,000 years. However, new analyses conducted by the same research team demonstrated that the Jebel Irhoud deposits are significantly older, dating between 240,000 ± 35,000 and 378,000 ± 30,000 years ago, with an average age of approximately 315,000 ± 34,000 years.
The Jebel Irhoud individuals occupy an intermediate position between modern humans (including Upper Paleolithic Cro-Magnons) and more archaic groups such as Heidelberg humans, Neanderthals, and African Middle Pleistocene populations. This pattern is evident across nearly all studied anatomical features, including the skull, mandible, brain, and dentition.
The occipital and temporal bones of Irhoud 1 retain several archaic characteristics, whereas the frontal bone exhibits more derived traits. The face of Jebel Irhoud 1 is essentially indistinguishable from that of modern humans and, in some respects, appears even more modern than that of certain Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens specimens.
The mandible displays a receding chin, although a very weak indication of chin prominence may be present. Considered in isolation, the jaw appears relatively archaic; however, in combination with the facial morphology, it does not seem particularly primitive. Viewed from a three-quarter angle, Irhoud 1 appears remarkably modern, while its archaic features become most apparent in profile.
The cranial vault bones of Jebel Irhoud 1 are thick, and the vault itself is low and elongated. The forehead is low and receding, although less sloping than that of European Neanderthals. The brow ridge is massive, postorbital constriction is pronounced, and the occipital region exhibits a chignon-like morphology.
The mandibular fossa of the temporal bone is moderately deep and spacious. The articular eminence is well developed, and the postglenoid process is large.
The face is extremely high and broad. The upper face is relatively flattened, while alveolar prognathism is strongly expressed. The orbits are tall and square-shaped, and the nose is very broad. A canine fossa is absent, and the alveolar process is high.
The teeth are large.
The brain morphology resembles that of the Kabwe (Broken Hill) specimen. Cranial capacity has been estimated at 1,305–1,480 cm³. (Hublin et al. (2017), Richter et al. (2017), Antropogenez, S. Drobyshevski (2017)).
