A mine at Kabwe in central Zambia, exploited from the early years of the present century. Mining operations have exposed a long series of stone industries extending from the Acheulian to the Charaman. Particular interest attaches to a cave, now completely quarried away, from which abundant faunal remains were recovered in association with a Charaman stone industry and perhaps with earlier artefacts also. In 1922, fossil human remains were discovered, including a complete skull in a remarkably fine state of preservation. Generally attributed to a sub-group of Homo sapiens, H. s. rhodesiensis [Rhodesian man], the skull has marked brow ridges, a sharply receding forehead and a cranial capacity of 1280 cubic centimetres. Different authorities have varyingly emphasized the specimen’s affinity to the European and Near Eastern neanderthaloids, or the features which are reminiscent of Homo erectus. Dating by the amino-acid racemization technique indicates an age of more than 100,000 years. Together with the fact that over 25 per cent of the species represented by the associated faunal remains are now extinct, this suggests that the skull is that of the maker not of the Charaman industry but of the Sangoan or late Acheulian material also found in the vicinity.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied