The Black Skull (Paranthropus aethiopicus, KNM-WT 17000)
Cráneo Negro (Paranthropus aethiopicus, KNM-WT 17000)
- Date
- 1985 (cráneo de c. 2.5 Ma) · confidence high
- Place
- West of Lake Turkana, Turkana, Kenya
- Credited to
- Alan Walker and Richard Leakey (Turkana team)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
A c. 2.5 Ma skull with a huge sagittal crest and dished face, stained black by manganese. It is the most complete specimen of an early robust australopith.
The species was erected in 1968 by Arambourg and Coppens for a mandible from Omo (Ethiopia); the 1985 Turkana skull revealed its cranial anatomy.
What it led to
- establishing the robust Paranthropus lineage before boisei
- debate over whether the robust forms constitute a single clade
- more evidence of hominin diversity 2.5 Ma ago