New Postcranial Hominin Fossils from the Central Narmada Valley, India

Advances in Anthropology

2012. Vol.2, No.3, 125-131

Published Online August 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/aa) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aa.2012.23015

New Postcranial Hominin Fossils from the Central Narmada

Valley, India

Anek R. Sankhyan1*, Giani L. Badam2, Laxmi N. Dewangan3, Sheuli Chakraborty3,

Shashi Prabha3, Suvendu Kundu3, Rana Chakravarty3

1Palaeo Research Society, Ghumarwin (H.P.), India

2Anthropological Survey of India (Indian Museum Campus), Kolkata, India

3Hermes Paras, Kalyani Nagar, Pune, India

Email: arsankhyan@gmail.com

Received May 12th, 2012; revised June 13th, 2012; accepted June 24th, 2012

Hathnora in Central Narmada valley (Madhya Pradesh) has earlier yielded a partial skullcap, and two

clavicles and a 9th rib of Middle Pleistocene hominins. Recent explorations have brought to light two

more hominin fossils—a humerus and a femur from a new locality, Netankheri. The femur is derived

from the Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic horizon as the Hathnora skullcap, and shares similar “archaic”

mosaic morphology of Homo heidelbergensis, also attested by new bio-stratigraphic and Palaeolithic data.

The humerus is derived from the pre-YTA (~75 Kya) Upper Pleistocene strata in association with unique

fossilized bone artifacts and documents the early emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in

South Asia.

Keywords: Pleistocene; Hominins; Narmada Valley; Humerus; Femur; H. erectus; H. sapiens;

H. heidelbergensis

Introduction

Since 1830s the Central Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh

has yielded innumerable Palaeolithic artefacts and Pleistocene

mammalian fauna. 150 years later, the year 1984 saw a discov-

ery of Middle Pleistocene hominin partial cranium (Sonakia,

1984), followed later by the discovery of two clavicles and a

partial left 9th rib (Sankhyan, 1997a, 1997b, 2005) from a layer

just above near the same site, Hathnora. These findings brought

Central Narmada valley to the forefront of human evolution in

South Asia and generated considerable debate on the taxonomic

status of Narmada hominin. The partial cranium received

greater attention from Lumley & Sonakia (1985), who con-

ceived it as of an “evolved” Homo erectus, the stand more re-

cently continued by another French scholar, Mallasse (2009).

This was followed by another study by Kennedy et al. (1991),

who highlighted several advanced traits and therefore referred it,

to an “archaic” Homo sapiens. Several scholars viewed the

cranium in the same manner on different grounds (Badam et al.,

1986; Sankhyan, 1999, 2006; Kennedy, 2000; Cameron, 2004).

Of late, the terms “evolved” Homo erectus “archaic” or “ar-

chaic” Homo sapiens cladistically received different connota-

tions, and therefore, Narmada partial cranium was referred to a

much wider Old World species, Homo heidelbergensis (Ken-

nedy, 2007; Athreya, 2007; Sankhyan, 2010).

Initially, the two clavicles and the rib fossils were thought to

have been derived from the same cranially known Middle Plei-

stocene hominin on grounds of stratigraphic proximity and in-

ferred female sex and similar estimated age at death (Sankhyan,

1999). But, they remained enigmatic mismatch (Pearson, 2000)

to the cranium, and therefore were ignored by notable scholars

like Kennedy (2000) in discussion on hominin evolution in

Narmada valley. Of course, they do not corroborate in the esti-

mated body dimensions of a single hominin, and appeared

morphologically distinct (Sankhyan, 2007), and therefore open

up a possibility of a hitherto unknown Pygmy-sized species or

archaic population in Narmada valley (Sankhyan & Rao, 2007;

Van Heteren & Sankhyan, 2009), strengthened by a recent

study (Sankhyan, 2010).

The New Findings

The present study reports two new hominin fossils from the

Central Narmada valley described here. They include a partial

left humeral diaphysis NTK-F-02-07 (Figure 1) and a distal

shaft fragment of the left femur NTK-F-07-05 (Figure 2),

housed at Kolkata in the Palaeoanthropology Repository of the

Anthropological Survey of India. These were derived from two

different stratigraphic levels of a new fossil locality, Netankheri,

located about 3 km upstream of Hathnora, along the northern

bank of River Narmada (Figures 3 and 4).

The Humerus

The specimen is fully mineralized and exhibits post-fossili-

zation linear cracks, especially on the medial border. The pre-

served portion below the radial sulcus (spiral groove) unto the

upper margin of the olecranon fossa measures 84 mm. The

specimen is cylindrical proximally, widening and turning pris-

matic distally. It is bounded by three borders and three surfaces,

and shows a medial bend on the posterior surface, where the

brachialis narrows upward and widens downward. Distally, the

posterior surface is flattened and covered by the lateral and

medial heads of the triceps brachia that give rise to part of the

*Corresponding author.

A. R. SANKHYAN ET AL.

Figure 1.

Netankheri left humerus fossil: (1A) (anterior); (1B) (posterior); (1C), (1D), (1E) comparisons in different views with two modern chaurite.

Figure 2.

Netankheri distal femur fossil (2A) (anterior); (2B) (posterior) and comparison with modern; Neanderthal and Homo erectus femora (2C) and in cross

sections (2D).

Figure 3.

The humerus site (3A) and the stratigraphic position (3B) at U3 boulder conglomerate at Netankheri, right bank of

Narmada River. Lithosection at Bankheri (3C) on the left bank of Narmada River near Babai containing the YTA

layers in the Baneta Fm (3D).

126

A. R. SANKHYAN ET AL.

Figure 4.

The site (4A) and stratigraphic position ((4B) & (4C)) of the Netankheri femur fossil in the U1 boulder conglomerate bed and

the area map (4D) in Central Narmada Valley.

brachialis. The anterior border is smooth and rounded. The

lateral border is sharp crest like and rough distally; upraises

obliquely medial ward with a broad shallow oblique depression

in the centre. The medial border is broken at its centre.

Comparative Assessment

It is relevant to know whether the NTK humerus is of an ar-

chaic hominin or of modern human. A recent study (Todd &

Churchill, 2006) shows that archaic vs modern human differen-

tiation could be established by the proximal end of ulna, and

not by the distal humerus. Nevertheless, fossilization and stout

morphology may indicate a “late archaic” character of the NTK

fossil humerus. Its 84 mm preserved fragment yields an esti-

mated total length of 240 mm (Table 1), which is even shorter

than the mean length of five Chaurite humeri (291.4 ± 13.43

mm) as well as from a larger sample of 33 mixed mainland

Indian including Chaurite (284.74 ± 27.19 mm). Interestingly,

the NTK and Chaurite Nicobari population is shorter and

stockier in the available comparative sample which includes

Omo Kibish and Cro-Magnon 1 (Carretero, 2009; Bermudez de

Castro et al., 2012, personal communication).

Thus, coupled with the earlier findings of two clavicles and a

rib, the NTK humerus suggests that the Central Narmada Val-

ley was continuously occupied by “short and stocky” early to

late archaic or early modern Homo sapiens populations during

Middle to Late Pleistocene of South Asia, and it is not unlikely

they included the ancestors of similar short-bodied ancient In-

dians/South Asians including the Andaman Pygmy.

The Femur

The specimen (Figures 2(A) and (B)) is fully mineralized, 81

mm distal-most shaft portion of the left femur, detached from

the condyles. The popliteal surface is well preserved while arti-

cular surface of the patella intercondylar fossa is eroded. Direct

comparisons with similar sized mammalian femurs ruled out its

non-hominin identity, and the specimen shows a typical cylin-

drical shape of the hominin femur body or corpus femoris,

which broadens and flattens distally near the condylar region

forming a distinct triangular popliteal surface on the posterior

aspect. When the femur is held with its body perpendicular, its

lateral surface looks larger and rounded compared to the rela-

tively narrow and slightly pinched medial surface above the

condyles, which flares more medially backward. This demon-

strates that it is a left femur.

Comparative Assessment

Comparative morphometrics of femur specimens are pre-

sented in Table 1. Although limited by preservation, the most

A. R. SANKHYAN ET AL.

Table 1.

Metric comparison of the Narmada fossilized humerus and femur with modern mainland Indians and Chaurite Nicobari of Andaman-Nicobar Islands,

and other Pleistocene hominins. M-L = medio-lateral diameter or lateral pillar thickness; A-P = antero-posterior diameter or middle pillar thickness;

all measurements in millimeter.

Humerus Mid-Shaft Measurement

Skeletal Population N & Value M-L/LPT A-P/MPT GIRTH LENGTH

Netankheri Fossil (NTK-F-02-07) 1 18.3 18.7 67.5 84 = 240est

33 16.02 16.56 60.02 284.70

SD 2.65 2.43 5.82 24.19 Mainland Indians + Chaurite Islanders

SE 0.46 0.42 1.01 4.21

5 19.21 19.08 65.95 291.4

SD 3.15 1.20 4.75 13.43 Chaurite Islanders

SE 1.41 0.54 2.46 6.00

KNM-WT 15000F 1 17.3 11.8

Gombore IB-7594 1 15.6 11.61

ATD6-148 1 14.0 7.0

BOD-VP-1/2b 1 18.0 9.0

Kabwe 1 18.4 11.9

Skhul IV 1 18.6 14.2

Omo Kibish I-r (KHS-1-30) 1 19.9 11.5

Omo Kibish I-l (KHS-1-31) 1 20.6 12.0

Cro-Magnon 1 1 20.7 14.0

Dolní Vĕstonice 4 16.8 ± 1.7 9.1 ± 2.8

Sima de los Huesos 6/9 15.7 ± 2.0 8.6 ± 1.3

Neandertals 21/23 15 ± 2.2 7.7 ± 1.8

Femur Distal Mid-Shaft Measurement

NTK-F-07-05 (L) 1 44.85 38.05 125.5

Neanderthal (R )1 1 47.3 40.7 133.5

Homo erectus (L) (Java)1 1 37.65 34.15 114.5

Homo erectus (Tautavel)2 1 36.9 32.55 -

18 34.87 27.68 102.85

SD 34.87 28.11 104.65

Modern Indians

(Homo sapiens)3

SE 3.643 2.93 10.095

*Estimated, 1Measurements on replicas; 2On original at Tautavel, France taken in July 2009, access courtesy Professor Henry de Lumley; and 3On original in Anthropologi-

cal Survey of India Palaeoanthropology Laboratory, Kolkata.

notable feature of the NTK femur is its inconspicuous medial

and lateral lips resulting in a sub-circular/ovoid shape of the

diaphysis in cross section (Figure 2(D)). This is in contrast to

the modern human femora, where the two lips emerge into

prominent ridges, the linea aspera, which result in a posterior

pilaster or flatness. In this respect, the NTK femur is compara-

ble to the robust and rounded femur of the Neanderthal man

which lacks the pilaster (Figure 2(C)). Direct comparison with

the “late archaic” hominins (Trinkaus, 2007; Trinkaus & Ruff,

1999; Churchill, 2007; Weaver, 2009), e.g., Tabun 3, Qafze 9

and Skhul 5 was not possible, their cross sections (Figure 2(D))

look apparently similar. Nevertheless, striking metric similarity

is with the Neanderthal than Java Homo erectus (Table 1).

The Litho-Stratigraphy at Netankheri

The two specimens were derived from two different strati-

graphic levels exposed near the village Netankheri, located

(22˚50′25″N, 77˚53′6″E) along the northern bank of the east-

west flowing River Narmada (Figure 3(A)), three kilometers

east upstream from Hathnora, 25 km east of Shahganj. The

Netankheri Quaternary litho-stratigraphic section (Figure 3(C))

is 19.2 m thick; its 3.7 m lower part is attributed to the Middle

Pleistocene Surajkund Formation and the upper to the Upper

Pleistocene Baneta Formation (Tiwari & Bhai, 1997). Like

Hathnora (Figure 3(B)), the Surajkund Formation at Netank-

heri is comprised of three distinct cemented pebble conglomer-

ate beds (Khan & Sonakia, 1992), denoted as U1, U2 & U3 with

Inter-layers of yellow sands. A striking feature here is that the

U2/U3 units of the Surajkund Fm cemented gravel beds are

collapsed and spread as a gravely sand bar for a longer distance

by the recent neotectonic anticlines and synclines, besides ero-

sional and re-depositional activities of River Narmada. The

collapsed segment contains the fragments of Vndhyan sand-

128

A. R. SANKHYAN ET AL.

stone, and other volcanic materials, like chert, jasper, agate, etc.

derived from the Satpura Hills. The lower portion of the Sura-

jkund Fm has sequences of yellowish brown coarse sand and

pebbles, and the cemented gravel. The Baneta overlays discon-

formably as fine brown calcareous clayey silt with grey sand

lenses, and thick brown siltyclay.

The Associated Palaeontological &

Archaeological Findings

The U1 yielded a heavy duty Acheulian pick and a few han-

daxes at Netankheri, but remarkably over hundred refined

heavy duty large Acheulian handaxes, picks, cleavers and

chopping tools were recovered in situ at Hathnora. At Netank-

heri the femur discovered at the U1 level of the Surajkund for-

mation was associated with heavy duty Acheulian implements

and a molar fragment of Stegodon insignis ganesa.

The U1 level at Hathnora however yielded a richer assem-

blage of complete crania and mandibles of Equus namadicus,

Elephas namadicus, Bos namadicus, Bubalis palaeindicus and

Hexaprotodon namadicus (Sankhyan, 2010). One complete

mandible of Equus namadicus was excavated in shallow waters

with an Acheulian tool embedded in the conglomerate matrix

that filled the mandibular ramii. This is a direct evidence of the

contemporaneity of the fauna and the cultural artifacts. The

fauna from the U1 level indicate a later Middle Pleistocene age

(Sankhyan, 2010; Badam & Sankhyan, 2009) to the hominin

skullcap as well as femur.

In addition, the Neanderthal-like archaic robust morphology

of the NTK femur is in concordance with the robust archaic

mosaic morphology of the Hathnora partial cranium; the rich

mega mammalian fossils as well as heavy duty Acheulian im-

plements recovered from this level (Sankhyan, 2010) also go in

line with this inference. Therefore, the Neanderthal-like femur

may best be regarded as Homo heidelbergensis since Hathnora

calvaria are also better identified with Homo heidelbergensis in

recent years.

The NTK humerus derived from the U2/U3 interface (Figure

3(D)) was found in association with typical Upper Palaeolithic

implements as well as the fossilized bone implements; an iso-

lated dentition of Equus hemionus khur was also found at this

level. The U1/U2 interface at Hathnora has yielded two hominin

clavicles and a rib of a Pygmy-sized short and stocky hominin

(Sankhyan, 1997, 2005). We recently excavated several light-

duty Late Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic implements from

this level, (Sankhyan, 2010). Earlier workers (Badam et al.,

1986; De Lumley & Sonakia, 1985) also reported similar arti-

facts from this stratigraphic level and thought these associated

with the calvaria. Now, it is clear that they were likely the

handiwork of the Pygmy-sized short and stocky hominin

(Sankhyan, 2010).

The Chronology of the Findings

An electron spin resonance (ESR) date of >236 Kya (Cam-

eron et al., 2004) is concordant with the biostratigraphic and

cultural findings, though more recent attempts based on linear

Uranium uptakes show a wider range 40 to 280 Kya (Patnaik, et

al., 2009). Probably, the Hathnora calvaria and the Netankheri

femur may probably be of ~250 Kya old, whereas, Hathnora

clavicles and the rib specimen could be younger to ~200 Kya in

consideration of the totality of faunal and archaeological evi-

dences.

As the humerus specimen was discovered from the collapsed

U2/U3 interface (Figure 2(A)) of the Surajkund Formation,

below the Baneta Formation stratigraphic boundary, it is older

than the YTA date of ~75 Kya (Rose and Chesner, 1990;

Chesner, 1991) since so far only the Baneta and Hirdepur for-

mations of the Central Narmada Valley are known to contain

the Youngest Toba Ash layers (Acharyya & Basu, 1993; West-

gate et al., 1998; Ganjoo et al., 1996).

Discussion & Conclusion

Above observations indicate presence of two types of archaic

hominins in Narmada valley during Middle to Late Pleistocene

times. The “large-bodied” species was wide spread during Mid-

dle Pleistocene at lower Surajkund at U1 stratigraphic level and

hunted mega mammals with typical large-sized Acheulian im-

plements. The “short and stocky” archaic hominins appeared at

upper Surajkund level during later Middle Pleistocene time and

hunted relatively small game animals using Late Acheulian and

Middle Palaeolithic technology. The Netankheri humerus pro-

vides evidence for an adaptive continuity of the “short and

stocky” hominins during Upper Pleistocene, and they likely

formed the ancestral substratum for the later short-bodied popu-

lations of South Asia including the Pygmy.

Thus, the “short and stocky” mode 3 archaic hominins may

have been but an early (Pre-Toba) “African import” to South

Asia thought via Arabian Peninsula (Petraglia, 2007; Petraglia

& Alsharekh, 2003; James & Petraglia, 2005). They might have

survived the “Volcanic Winter” (Ambrose, 1998; Oppen-

heimer, 2002, 2003) due to unique cultural adaptations (such as

bonetool technology), which could have facilitated rapid at-

tainment of anatomical modernity as well (Sankhyan, 2010).

The recent mtDNA M signatures of >60 Kya likely attest con-

tinuity of the “short-bodied” populations indirectly, like the

Munda, inhabiting the easternmost fringe of the Narmada Val-

ley, who surprisingly, shares these signatures with the Anda-

man pygmy (Barik et al., 2008; Chandrasekar, 2009). Recent

archaeological studies have demonstrated wide-spread and south-

eastward expansions of technologically Narmada-like Late

Acheulian to Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hominins

(Sankhyan et al., 2011). Moreover, there is considerable ana-

tomical gap between the NTK humerus and later Pleistocene

(~30 Kya old) occupants of the Fa Hien cave of Sri Lanka

(Kennedy & Deraniyagala, 1989) and Darri-I-Kur of northeast-

ern Afghanistan (Angel, 1972) which would continue to fuel

debate on “Continuity” vs “Replacement”.

Acknowledgements

The senior author, being the Principal Investigator of the

Narmada Project sponsored by the Anthropological Survey of

India Kolkata, thanks V. R. Rao, the then Director-in-Charge

for facilities, and several notable experts, namely M. L. K.

Murty, V. Shinde, S. R. Walimbe, Subrata Chakrabarti, and S.

B. Ota, who examined the findings, as well as M. P. Tiwari and

Yusuf Bhai to discuss Narmada stratigraphy during field opera-

tions.

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