Russian paleoanthropologists conducted a detailed analysis of the known Pleistocene remains of Bodo-I, found in Ethiopia in 1976. The study allowed them to determine that this massive skull, approximately 600,000 years old, belonged to a male belonging to the African line of Heidelberg humans.
The scientists not only created contour and sculptural reconstructions of this individual's appearance but also published their findings in the journal Camera praehistorica. The Awash River Valley in Ethiopia became the site of one of the most important discoveries concerning the evolution of the genus Homo during the Middle Pleistocene (approximately 780–130 thousand years ago).
In 1976, fragments of the skull were discovered, which were later supplemented by small pieces to form the Bodo-I fossil. The skull includes a large fragment of the cranial box, part of the facial skeleton, and a piece of the upper jaw. The massiveness, thick vault bones, and pronounced relief indicate that the remains belonged to a male. Researchers suggest that he lived between 550 and 740 thousand years ago, possibly around 600 thousand years ago, and his brain volume was estimated at approximately 1250 cubic centimeters.
Distinguishing features of this human include a very pronounced supraorbital ridge and the presence of multiple cuts on fresh bone, which may indicate either cannibalism or complex ritual practices. Russian paleoanthropologists Sergey Vasiliev and Olga Alekhina from the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented the results of their morphological analysis. This analysis showed that the skull combines primitive traits inherent to erectoid forms with characteristics typical of later human species.
Anthropologists have long debated the skull's affiliation with different taxa. The prevailing opinion is that the remains should be considered representatives of Heidelberg humans in the broad sense (H. heidelbergensis sensu lato). However, there is another view suggesting that the skull belongs to a separate African Middle Pleistocene species—the Rhodesian people (H. rhodesiensis), described over a century ago based on the find from Broken Hill (Kabwe). Although five years ago a new species H. bodoensis was proposed using Bodo as the holotype, this concept did not gain widespread support. Russian specialists supported the view that the Bodo human is a representative of the African Heidelberg lineage.
The most important result of the publication was the reconstruction of the appearance of this archaic male. The researchers made significant adjustments to the shape of the occipital region of the skull (which was absent in the original) and corrected the position of the zygomatic arches. To complete the reconstruction, they used data from the Broken Hill find and the Heidelberg Mauer-1 remains, discovered in Germany in 1907, to recreate missing parts such as teeth and the lower jaw. In the end, both a contour and a sculptural reconstruction were performed, taking into account the overall massiveness, highly developed brow ridge, flattened and high cheekbones, and weakly projecting nose.
