OH 24 - "Twiggy"

Discovered by Peter Nzube in 1968 at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, it belongs to the Homo habilis species. . It consisted of an fairly complete but very badly crushed cranium and seven teeth. It is about1.85 million years old and has a brain size of about 590 cc. OH 24, nicknamed "Twiggy" after a popular (and very skinny) British model in the late 1960's, is the oldest fossil skull found in the Olduvai Gorge. Excepting OH 5, it is also the most complete. The cranium was found crushed flat (hence the nickname) and cemented together with a coating of limestone. Little value was placed on the find originally, but after much effort, the skull was reconstructed. Despite this effort, there still is a good deal of distortion from the fossilization process. The slightly small cranial capacity (just under 600cc) is attributed to this distortion. The face of the individual is prognathic (projects forward under the nose), as in other H. habilis individuals, but not quite to the extent of the earlier Australopithecus species. This specimen manifests the larger brain size and the reduction of facial size typical of the evolution of early Homo. The individual's third molars had erupted, so we know that Twiggy was an adult at death. Yet the molars show no sign of wear (the points on the crowns of her teeth are still sharp, and show little sign of abrasion by rough food matter), indicating that her death probably came soon after their eruption.