Drimolen fossil discovery reveals 2-million-year-old Homo erectus

Researchers have identified a skull fragment belonging to an adult Homo erectus at the Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. Dated to approximately 2 million years ago, the find is roughly 200,000 years older than known adult specimens of the species from other locations, such as Dmanisi, Georgia.

This discovery, detailed in the journal ‘Annals of Human Biology’, provides essential context to a previous 2020 find involving the skull of a young Homo erectus child. While the child's skull offered clues to the species' presence in the region, the new fragment, designated DNH 127, represents the first adult specimen attributed to the species from Drimolen.

Led by Jesse Martin of La Trobe University, the team described 18 previously unpublished fossils from the site. While the majority of these fossils belong to Paranthropus robustus, the new fragment contains temporal, parietal, and occipital bone sections that best align with Homo erectus. The dating was confirmed using multiple methods, including uranium-lead dating of flowstones and paleomagnetism.