Skull OH 24

OH 24, "Twiggy", Homo habilis

Discovered by Peter Nzube in 1968 at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. It consisted of a badly crushed skull and seven teeth. It is about 1.8 million years old and has a brain size of about 590 cc.

This is the most complete of the Homo habilis skulls discovered at Olduvai Gorge. (It is not as complete as it may look above; the lighter portion of the side of the head is filler.) When discovered, it had been crushed absolutely flat, hence the nickname "Twiggy", after an English model of the 1960's. A heroic reconstruction job by R.J. Clarke restored it, but some distortion undoubtedly remains.

This page is part of the Fossil Hominids FAQ at the talk.origins Archive.