Pygmy sized human ancestor in Central Narmada Valley a missing link in evolution chain, reveals new study

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During a recent exploration in the Central Narmada Valley, researchers have unearthed skeletal parts of hitherto unknown archaic humans that have inhabited Central Narmada valley in India during late Mid Pleistocene.

Hominin femur fossil  found from Central Narmada Valley
Image Courtesy: Current Science

According to a research communication published in the Current Science Journal, a partial humeral piece (bone which extends from shoulder to elbow), a fragment of the left femur (bone that extends from pelvis to the knee) and other stone artifacts collected from Netankheri, located 3 km away from Hathnora on the banks of Narmada River, shows that Central Narmada Valley had two different archaic human races.

While one was large robust hominins who used to hunt down large mammals with heavy duty weapons, the later developed pygmy sized one which was hitherto unknown to science, used to hunt smaller animals with lightly refined tools. The pygmy sized race could be the real ancestors of all short-bodied populations in South Asia, says the study.

Anatomical differences

Though the humeral piece was 84 mm in length, scientific estimations reveal that the maximum possible length could be 240mm. In that case, it is shorter than that of the known archaic mainland Eastern Indian races. According to the researchers, the humeral piece has more similarities with that of Chaurite Nicobarese populations.

Hominin humerus from Netankheri
Image Courtesy: Current Science 

Though it is not easy to confirm if the fossil belongs to modern humans or archaic hominins, the mineralization and the artifacts recovered along with the fossil suggest the period could be Upper Palaeolithic.

Similarly, the femoral piece is different from that of modern humans. The newly discovered femur, according to researchers, has scarcely developed medial and lateral lips while they are prominently developed into ridges in modern humans. A comparative analysis, according to the research communication, makes it more similar to femur of the Neanderthal man or late archaic hominins.

Thus the newly unearthed humeral fossil may belong to a connecting link between the short statured archaic humans to the early modern homo sapience during the late Pleistocene, says the study.

Culturally different race

Excavations at Hathnora earlier have revealed the existence of archaic hominin populations on the Narmada banks dating back to mid- Pleistocene age. However, the present findings, when compared with that from Hathnora, reveal that the races were culturally and physically distinct.

Substantiating the findings, the study points out that the faunal fossils and the types of artifacts recovered from the two sites are different, which in turn suggest that the races were culturally different.

a. Bone and stone implements associated with human humerus at Netankheri and similar sites. b, Small mode 3 lithic implements excavated at Hathnora clavicle site; such tools were also recovered from Netankheri humerus site.
Image Courtesy: Current Science 

During the excavation at Hathnora, researchers have unearthed a complete mandible or lower jaw of Equus namadicus, a pre-historic era horse like mammal of Narmada valley. Interestingly, a portion of its lower jaw had a pre-historic tool struck in it, pointing out that the animal was contemporary with the man who made these tools.

 Similarly, current excavations at Hathnora partial skull level have yielded a large cache of heavy duty artifacts, many of them associated with large mammalian fossils, suggesting that the Hathnora populations known by the skull were large robust humans and they used to hunt down large mammals also.

However, excavations at Netankheri at the same level yielded very few large mammalian fossils and very few heavy duty artifacts. Researchers were able to unearth some lower jaw remnants of Stegodon insignis ganesa, a pre-historic elephant known for its longer tusks, and very few heavy duty artifacts from Netankheri. While the artifacts at Hathnora contained Picks, chopping tools, cleavers and hand axes, not many similar tools were present at Netankheri. However, the picks recovered from Netankheri at femur level were culturally similar to those of Hathnora skull level and connect the two robust fossil findings.

Map of a portion of the Central Narmada valley
Image Courtesy: Current Science 

All these signs, point to the fact that the races were physically and culturally different, to the point that the short-statured race used to hunt only smaller mammals and used more refined tools, than the robust humans in Hatnora. “The fossil and archaeological evidence from Hathnora represent two types of culturally and physically distinct, anatomically archaic hominin populations in the Central Narmada Valley.”, says the paper.

Connecting link to modern human populations on Narmada Valley

These findings throw more light into the evolution of human race in South Asia region. According to the research communication, the humeral piece of fossil belonged to a type of human race which could be a connecting link between short statured archaic human races in Narmada Valley during later Middle Pleistocene to the modern Homo sapiens in the evolutionary chain.

Possibly, the present short bodied South Asian populations could be descendants of this ancestral root. According to the study, the present Munda settlements in Narmada Valley who have phylogenetic similarities with Andaman Pygmies, can be the present continuation of this short statured human race who inhabited the place during late Pleistocene.

According to Dr. A R Sankhyan, the lead author and a retired palaeoanthropologist with Anthropological Survey of India,   the short and stocky people can even be the ancestors of African pygmies. In a media statement, Sankhyan said that the race "could be the ancestors of the short-bodied people of south Asia, those found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and African pygmies".

Early human populations in Narmada Valley

Excavations and palaeontological explorations in the Central Narmada Valley have given valuable insights into the prehistoric age with faunal fossils and stone-age artifacts since 1830s. However, the first direct door of knowledge to the archaic human populations here was opened when a partial hominin cranium was found in 1980s. Later, two clavicles and a partial 9^th left rib also were recovered from Hathnora.

However, the mismatching nature of the recovered fossils has always suggested the chances of presence of more than one human race in Central Narmada valley.  The present study also points out that the archaic human settlements extend to other places on the banks of Narmada like Netankheri which calls for more studies to unravel the mystery of Central Narmada Valley ancestors.