KABWE (Broken Hill)
LOCATION
Kopje 1, Broken Hill Mine, Kabwe, Zambia.
DISCOVERY
T. Zwigelaar, June 1921 (cranium); other hominid
fossils found by A. Armstrong, A. Whittington and
A. Hrdlicka at various times in 1921-1925.
MATERIAL
Fairly complete cranium, plus a parietal, a maxilla, and
several postcranial bones whose association with each
other and with the original cranium is unclear.
DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The hominid remains were found during mining ac-
tivities that involved clearing out a long, narrow cave
(solution cavity) in a limestone hill. The most impor-
tant specimen, the cranium, was apparently found in
the lowest and farthest point in the cave, which was
itself completely destroyed during the subsequent
mining that produced the other remains (Pycraft
et al., 1928). None of the hominid remains was found
during controlled excavation. The fauna from the
cave, reported by Cooke (1964), includes about 25%
extinct species, and is generally believed to indicate a
late Middle Pleistocene date (see Klein, 1973; Vrba,
1982). According to Partridge (1982) the cranium
may antedate the bulk of the mammalian assemblage.
It now seems virtually certain that the cranium dates
from before 125 Ka; but how much older remains
problematic-although, especially in view of the very
much earlier date now given to the quite comparable
Bod0 cranium, it could be very much more.ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Quartz and chert tools of Proto-Stillbay and Stillbay
(Middle Stone Age) type were reportedly found in
the same area of the cave as the cranium. Acheulean
tools were found in a later controlled excavation close
nearby (Clark, 1959), but, similarly, cannot be strati-
graphically associated with any of the hominid fossils.PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
Woodward (1921) created the new species Homo
rhodesiensis for the cranium, while noting certain
resemblances to the Neanderthals (comparative speci-
mens were in short supply at the time). Pycraft
(1928), focusing on the postcranials, in which he mis-
takenly (Le Gros Clark, 1928) saw evidence for a
stooping gait, opted for a new genus: Cyphanthropus
rhodesiensis. Morant (1928) revived the matter of simi-
larity to Neanderthals, which he believed to be closer
than that to Homo sapiens. Singer (1954) emphasized
resemblances to the Saldanha calotte, and suggested
that Kabwe and Saldanha jointly represented an en-
demic African equivalent to the European Nean-
derthals. Some commentators have suggested affinity
with Homo erectus (e.g., Coon, 1963), whereas Wells
(1957) proposed that Kabwe was one of several
primitive and regional branches of Homo sapiens108