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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 9th 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.
