Other Names: OH 5, “Zinj”

Species: Australopithecus boisei

Age:  ~1.8 million years old

Location: Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Discovery Date: July 17, 1959

 

 

 

On July 17, 1959 Mary Leakey made an exciting discovery- the nearly complete and well-preserved cranium (skull without the mandible) of an early hominin. Later nicknamed the Nutcracker Man, the fossil was identified as a young adult male, notable for his wide face (from laterally flaring zygomatic arches) and large post-canine teeth (premolars and molars that are almost 4 times larger than modern humans). Other notable features include:

• prominent sagittal crest on the top of his skull
• laterally sloping supraorbital tori (brow ridge)
• 2:1:2:3 dental formula
• flat or slightly concave face

  

  

  

  These features suggest that Nutcracker man had:

  • powerful chewing muscles
    • the temporalis (chewing) muscle attached on top of his head (to his sagittal crest) and went under his wide zygomatic arch
  • relied on grinding and crushing to break down his food
    • what his large post-canines are adapted for 

      

Fossil Condition

There was very minimal damage to the cranium when it was found. A section of the left zygomatic bone and parts of the top of the skull were missing. There was also slight taphonomic damage, as would be expected after ~ 1.8 million years.

 

 

Works Cited 

Anon. 2016. OH 5. The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program [Internet].         Available from: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/oh-5

Conroy GC, Pontzer H. 2012. Reconstructing Human Origins: A Modern Synthesis. New       York, NY: Norton and Company.

Staff LS. 2014. Photos: The Life of Nutcracker Man. LiveScience [Internet]. Available   from: https://www.livescience.com/42421-nutcracker-man-photos.html

University of Texas at Austin, Department of Anthropology. Paranthropus boisei: OH 5.   eFossils Resources [Internet]. Available from:   http://efossils.org/page/boneviewer/Paranthropus boisei/OH 5#100487662