Geological Antiquity of Rhodesian Man

Abstract

CARLETON COON, in his book The Origin of Races¹, argued that the “Caucasoid” (White) race, as represented by the well-known Swanscombe and Steinheim skulls, had crossed the threshold from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens in the Middle Pleistocene, at least by 250,000 yr ago, whereas the “Congoid” (Negro) race, as represented by the massive-browed and low-vaulted Broken Hill and Saldanha skulls, had remained at the Homo erectus level until well within the Upper Pleistocene, perhaps as recently as 30–40,000 yr ago. It has been pointed out that there are grounds for questioning the assignment of the Broken Hill and Saldanha specimens (lumped here and elsewhere as Rhodesian man) to Homo erectus² and few authors would agree that they can be assigned to any modern race, but most have accepted their Upper Pleistocene date. In this note I point out recent evidence that these specimens are in fact far older.