Narmada Human

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The Narmada Human, originally the Narmada Man, is a species of extinct human that lived in central India during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.[1][2] From a skull cup discovered from the bank of Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh in 1982, the discoverer, Arun Sonakia classified it was an archaic human and gave the name Narmada Man, with the scientific name H. erectus narmadensis.[3] Analysis of additional fossils from the same location in 1997 indicated that the individual could be a female, hence, a revised name, Narmada Human, was introduced. It had been variously reclassified as archaic Homo sapiens, evolved Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and dubiously[lower-alpha 1] as a distinct species, Homo narmadensis.[4] It remains the oldest human species in India.[5]

Discovery[edit]

The Narmada Valley is one of the earliest and richest fossil sites India. The first fossils were discovered by British Army Captain William Henry Sleeman in 1828.[6] Sleeman found two backbones (caudal vertebrae) from the Lameta Formation at Jabalpur that were later identified as those of a dinosaur, Titanosaurus.[7] Since then, many fossils of invertebrates and vertebrates have been discovered.[8][9] The search for prehistoric human remains in the region was inspired by the discovery of Stone Age hand axe by C.A. Hacket that was reported in 1873.[10]

In October 1982, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) assigned Arun Sonakia to explore Hoshangabad district.[11] On 5 December, Sonakia found a skull cup (calvaria) lying on the surface of an alluvial soil on the northern bank of Narmada River, near Hathnora village.[2][12] The fossil was among several other fossils of horse, pig, Stegodon and various stone tools. After careful analysis of the skull cup as part of a prehistoric human, the discovery was officially announced by the government on 21–22 July 1983, and through the newsletter of GSI. In 1984, N. G. K. Murthy, Director of GSI Southern Region, presented the technical report to the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Geological Research Institute in Hyderabad.[13] The same year, the first scientific paper by Sonakia appeared in the Records of the Geological Survey of India in which the fossil was described as Homo erectus narmadensis.[14][15]

Sonakia displayed the fossil cast at the first[16] "Ancestors exhibit" of the American Museum of Natural History in New York during 6 to 10 April 1984.[17] The exhibit was recorded the next year in the American Museum of Natural History's proceedings Ancestors, the Hard Evidence.[18][19] In 1985, Sonakia sought the help of french palaeontologist Henry de Lumley, with whom he made further descriptions in two articles simultaneously published in January issue of l'Anthropologie.[20][21] The fossil was again identified as H. erectus.[22]

Kenneth A. R. Kennedy of Cornell University conveyed the report in the Records of the Geological Survey of India to the American Anthropological Association, which published it in its September 1985 issue of American Anthropologist. In it, Sonakia gave a more careful description:

The hominid fossil specimen, presently designated as "Narmada Man," is represented by a complete right half of the skull cap, to which a part of the left parietal is attached... [Its] cranial capacity... would fall around 1,200 cc... [It] bears a number of similarities to skulls of Asian Homo erectus, hence an affinity of "Narmada Man" to Homo erectus is suggested.[11]

Kennedy added a cautionary note that the fossil was an undetermined species of human ("hominid calvarium of Homo sp. indet.).[17]

Note[edit]

  1. ↑ The original publications in a predatory journal Advances in Anthropology from Scientific Research Publishing

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Chakraborty, Sayak; Sachdeva, Mohinder Pal (28 August 2023). "A Glimpse Into India's Palaeoanthropological Past: Fossil Primates of the Pliocene and the Pleistocene". Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India. doi:10.1177/2277436X231189069. S2CID 261373099.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kumar, S. (2012-12-31). "Loneliness of Narmada Human". Down to Earth. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  3. ↑ Kennedy, Kenneth A. R.; Sonakia, Arun; Chiment, John; Verma, K. K. (December 1991). "Is the Narmada hominid an IndianHomo erectus?". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 86 (4): 475–496. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330860404. PMID 1776655.
  4. ↑ Anek R., Sankhyan (2013). "The Emergence of Homo sapiens in South Asia: The Central Narmada Valley as Witness". Human Biology Review. 2 (2): 136–152.
  5. ↑ "Still a mystery". The Telegraph. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  6. ↑ Dhiman, Harsha; Verma, Vishal; Singh, Lourembam R.; Miglani, Vaibhav; Jha, Deepak Kumar; Sanyal, Prasanta; Tandon, Sampat K.; Prasad, Guntupalli V. R. (18 January 2023). "New Late Cretaceous titanosaur sauropod dinosaur egg clutches from lower Narmada valley, India: Palaeobiology and taphonomy". PLOS ONE. 18 (1): e0278242. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1878242D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278242. PMC 9848018. PMID 36652404.
  7. ↑ Prasad, Guntupalli V.R. (1 December 2012). "Vertebrate biodiversity of the Deccan volcanic province of India: A review". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 183 (6): 597–610. doi:10.2113/gssgfbull.183.6.597.
  8. ↑ Turvey, Samuel T.; Sathe, Vijay; Crees, Jennifer J.; Jukar, Advait M.; Chakraborty, Prateek; Lister, Adrian M. (January 2021). "Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions in India: How much do we know?" (PDF). Quaternary Science Reviews. 252: 106740. Bibcode:2021QSRv..25206740T. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106740. S2CID 234265221.
  9. ↑ Bhattacharya, Biplab; Halder, Kalyan; Jha, Suparna; Mondal, Prantik; Ray, Rupsa (2021). "Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Paleontology of Late Cretaceous Bagh Beds, Narmada Valley, Central India: A Review". Mesozoic Stratigraphy of India. Society of Earth Scientists Series. pp. 623–657. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-71370-6_21. ISBN 978-3-030-71369-0. S2CID 243574586.
  10. ↑ Khatri, A. P. (1963). "Recent Exploration for the Remains of Early Man in India". Asian Perspectives. 7 (1/2): 160–182. JSTOR 42929007.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sonakia, Arun; Kennedy, Kenneth A. R. (September 1985). "Skull Cap of an Early Man from the Narmada Valley Alluvium (Pleistocene) of Central India". American Anthropologist. 87 (3): 612–616. doi:10.1525/aa.1985.87.3.02a00060. JSTOR 678879.
  12. ↑ "Narmada human". Frontline. 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  13. ↑ Kennedy, Kenneth A.R.; Chiment, John (1991). "The fossil hominid from the Narmada Valley, India; Homo erectus or Homo sapiens?". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 10: 42–58. doi:10.7152/bippa.v10i0.11291.
  14. ↑ Sonakia, Arun (1984). "The skull cap of early man and associated mammalian fauna from Narmada Valley alluvium, Hoshangabad area, Madhya Pradesh, India". Records of the Geological Survey of India. 113 (6): 159–172 – via Paleo Core.
  15. ↑ Kennedy, Kenneth A.R. (2007-05-16). "The Narmada Fossil Hominid". In Rao, V. R. (ed.). Human Origins, Genome and People of India: Genomic, Palaeontological and Archaeological Perspectives. Allied Publishers. pp. 188–192. ISBN 9798184241999.
  16. ↑ Lewin, Roger (4 May 1984). "Ancestors Worshiped: Paleoanthropologists have been discussing their agreements and disagreements in the presence of most of the world's hominid fossils". Science. 224 (4648): 477–479. doi:10.1126/science.224.4648.477. JSTOR 1692494. PMID 17753761.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Sonakia, Arun; Kennedy, Kenneth A. R. (September 1985). "Skull Cap of an Early Man from the Narmada Valley Alluvium (Pleistocene) of Central India". American Anthropologist. 87 (3): 612–616. doi:10.1525/aa.1985.87.3.02a00060. JSTOR 678879.
  18. ↑ Sonakia, Arun (1985). Delson, Eric (ed.). Ancestors, the Hard Evidence: Proceedings of the Symposium Held at the American Museum of Natural History April 6-10, 1984 to Mark the Opening of the Exhibition "Ancestors, Four Million Years of Humanity". A.R. Liss/American Museum of Natural History. pp. 334–338. ISBN 978-0-8451-0249-7.
  19. ↑ Pietrusewsky, Michael (1986). "Ancestors: The Hard Evidence. Eric Delson, editor (Book Review)". Asian Perspectives. 27 (2): 285. ProQuest 1311711663.
  20. ↑ Lumley, M. A. de; Sonakia, A. (1985). "Première découverte d'un Homo erectus sur le continent indien à Hathnora, dans la moyenne vallée de la Narmada" [First discovery of a Homo erectus on the Indian continent at Hathnora, in the middle Narmada valley]. L'Anthropologie (in français). 89 (1): 13–61. Template:INIST.
  21. ↑ Lumley, H. de; Sonakia, A. (1985). "Contexte stratigraphique et archéologique de l'Homme de la Narmada, Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, Inde" [Stratigraphic and archaeological context of Narmada Man, Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, India]. L'Anthropologie (in français). 89 (1): 3–12. Template:INIST.
  22. ↑ Bárcena, J. Roberto (1983–1985). "Lumley, Henry de y Sonakia, Arun: 1985. "Contexte stratigraphique et archéologique de l'homme de la Narmada, Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, Inde". L'Anthropologie, t. 89, nº 1, pp. 3-12.. París. 9 figs. y 3 cuadros" (PDF). Anales de Arqueología y Etnología. 38–40 (Segunda parte): 327–330. ISSN 0325-0288.

External links[edit]

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