The morphological affinities of the fossil cranium from Kabua, Kenya

Bosman, AM, Buck, LT ORCID: 0000-0002-1768-9049, Reyes‐Centeno, H, Lahr, MM, Stringer, C, Grün, R, Shao, Q and Harvati, K (2026) The morphological affinities of the fossil cranium from Kabua, Kenya. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. ISSN 1359-0987

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Abstract

Our current understanding of the origins of Homo sapiens is limited, in part, by the fragmented fossil record from Late Pleistocene and early Holocene Africa. Here, we re-examine the Kabua 1 cranium, an enigmatic and little-studied Kenyan fossil discovered in the 1950s. We compare virtual reconstructions created previously by our team with a wide range of Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene fossils and recent African H. sapiens crania to assess Kabua 1's morphological affinities. We also provide a conservative new Uranium-series minimum date of 64.4 ± 5.4 ka. Our results highlight Kabua 1's broad similarity to derived H. sapiens, both recent and fossil. Its morphology nevertheless demonstrates some more basal affinities and thus contributes to our understanding of the depth of phenotypic diversity in Late Pleistocene African H. sapiens.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1601 Anthropology; 2101 Archaeology; 2102 Curatorial and Related Studies; Anthropology; 4301 Archaeology; 4401 Anthropology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	16 April 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	21 April 2026
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2026 15:02
Last Modified:	21 Apr 2026 15:02
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/1467-9655.70137
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28419

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