KNM-ER 1470: An African Fossil Ape?

The skull above was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in 1972, at Koobi Fora in Kenya. It has an estimated age of 1.9 million years. Originally, KNM-ER 1470 was claimed to be a Homo habilis skull. The braincase was found to be surprisingly modern in many respects, much less robust than any australopithecine skull. It also did not have the usual robustness and large brow ridges of Homo erectus. The face, in contrast, is extremely large and robust. In the last few years, an increasing number of anthropologists have classified this skull as Homo rudolfensis.

Is it an ape or a human? A new reconstruction (above) appears to point to an anthropoid.

The left image shows the original reconstruction of KNM-ER 1470. On the right is Timothy Bromage’s computer-simulated reconstruction, which shows the same skull with a distinctly protruding jaw. The green and red lines mark the location of the eyes, ears, and mouth, which must be in precise relationship to one another in all mammals.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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