Bone Clones® Homo habilis Skull KNM-ER 1813

1.9 MYA. The Homo habilis Skull KNM-ER 1813 was discovered by K. Kimeu in 1973 at Koobi Fora, Kenya, and described by R. Leakey in Nature in 1973.

There is still controversy about this specimen's classification, with some scientists opting to classify it as an australopithecine and others believing it is a species of Homo. Some paleoanthropologists have raised the possibility that KNM-ER 1813 is the female counterpart to the Homo rudolfensis KNM-ER 1470. While dated to the same time period and sharing some characteristics, KNM-ER 1813 has a much smaller face, brain and teeth than 1470. Other paleoanthropologists argue that its brain size of 510 cc (in contrast to 1470's 750 cc) indicates a size difference too great to be due to sexual dimorphism and represents a separate species. It's also not the case that this specimen is simply an immature version of Homo rudolfensis, as the third molar appears to have been worn down. Instead, it has been suggested that it belongs in a category of Homo habilis, with which it shares similarities in tooth size and shape, cranium size, and face shape.

The Bone Clones® Hominid line is composed of discoveries from anatomically modern humans, archaic humans, early Homo, early hominins, and other hominids. The majority of the casts in this line have been recreated by a team of anatomical sculptors. Some are reconstructions made by anthropology professionals using fragmentary elements from original discoveries and extrapolating the missing parts from those.