Kenyanthropus platyops (KNM-WT-40000) Cast Replica Skull #BH-020

-Size: 6½"L x 4½"W x 5"H

-Species: Kenyanthropus platyops

-Notes: This 50,000 year old Kenyanthropus platyops skull (KNM-WT-40000) was discovered in 1999 by J. Erus (a member of Meave Leakey's team) west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. The specimen was described in Nature in 2001. Leakey and colleagues viewed the finds as being distinct enough from Australopithecus, particularly in the marked flatness of the face, to justify a new genus and species, Kenyanthropus platyops (meaning "flat faced hominid from Kenya"). Providing a second hominid species in the period from 3 to 3.5 million years ago, this specimen challenges A. afarensis "Lucy" as the direct ancestor of modern human. Its classification as a separate genus is not uncontroversial, especially given the damaged condition (1,100 face pieces) in which the skull was found. Some scholars suggest that the skull's condition was such that its position in hominid evolution is hard to assess.

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