(D)(B)(C)
(A)FIGURE 15.5. Some of the better known fossil hominid skulls from Africa. (A) The oldest known hominid,
Sahelanthropus tchadensis, nicknamed “Toumai,” from beds 6–7 million years old in Chad. (From Brunet et
al. 2002; by permission of the Nature Publishing Group) (B) The famous “Black Skull,” KNM-WT 17000,
a specimen of the very primitive robust australopithecine, Paranthropus aethiopicus, discovered in beds 2.5
million years in age on the west shore of Lake Turkana. (Photo courtesy A. Walker) (C) Mary Leakey’s
“Nutcracker Man,” the super-robust Paranthropus boisei, originally named “Zinjanthropus” boisei, OH5. It was
recovered from 1.8-million-year-old rocks in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. (Photo courtesy National Museums of
Kenya) (D) Richard Leakey’s most famous discovery, the best skull of a primitive member of our own genus,
Homo rudolfensis (originally referred to as Homo habilis), KNM-ER 1470, from beds dated at 1.88 million years
old on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana. (Photo courtesy National Museums of Kenya)