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Paranthropus robustus is the human relative that appears far more often than Homo erectus in a newly described fossil sample from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. Researchers report 14 specimens assigned to P. robustus and one to H. erectus sensu lato. The headline’s “10 to one” is a rounded description of those fossil counts—not a census of living populations.
What the “10 to one” finding means
The study describes 18 cranial and mandibular specimens from Drimolen: 14 assigned to Paranthropus robustus, one to Homo erectus sensu lato, and three that could be classified only as Hominini. The specific assigned-specimen ratio is therefore 14 to one; “more than 10 to one” is the rounded headline framing. The study’s reported counts describe this batch of fossils, not the number of individuals alive at the site or the relative population sizes of the species across Africa.
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Drimolen preserves evidence attributed to both species. The ratio tells readers how the newly described material was classified, not how common each species was in every place or at every moment in the past.
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DNH 127 adds an adult skull fragment
The newly identified H. erectus specimen is DNH 127, a fragment of an adult skull reported to be about 2 million years old. It adds adult material to Drimolen’s record. Earlier H. erectus evidence from the site cited in the report, DNH 134, came from a child estimated to have been two to four years old. The attribution of DNH 127 to H. erectus sensu lato is the researchers’ finding, as described in the study reporting and La Trobe University-attributed summary; the fragment should not be treated as a complete skull.
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What “sensu lato” signals
Sensu lato means “in the broad sense.” Here it qualifies the researchers’ taxonomic attribution of the fossil; it does not change the reported specimen count. La Trobe University lead researcher Jesse Martin described DNH 127 as “a new adult fossil attributed to Homo erectus” and said it provides further confirmation of the species’ appearance in southern Africa around 2 million years ago. The university-attributed summary republished by SciTechDaily provides that statement.
What the comparison with Swartkrans suggests
The study summary compares roughly 2-million-year-old P. robustus material from Drimolen with material from Swartkrans Cave dated to about 1.8 million years ago. Across this approximately 200,000-year span, the later fossil sample is reported to have larger teeth and chewing muscles. That is a pattern observed in the compared samples; the reporting does not establish one cause for the differences.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the fossils do—and do not—show
- They show: in the described Drimolen batch, 14 specimens were assigned to P. robustus and one to H. erectus sensu lato, with three more classified only as Hominini.
- They add: an adult skull fragment attributed to H. erectus sensu lato to the site’s fossil record.
- They do not establish: a population census, a continent-wide species ratio, or the cause of the differences reported between the Drimolen and Swartkrans samples.
The study, “New hominin cranial and mandibular remains from Drimolen Main Quarry, South Africa,” by Jesse M. Martin, A. B. Leece, Stephanie Baker, Andy I. R. Herries and David S. Strait, was published online in Annals of Human Biology on 25 September 2026. The specimen assignments and comparisons above are reported findings; the study’s full text is the appropriate source for detailed methods and anatomical reasoning.
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