The Boskop Man has continued to puzzle the anthropology community.
In 1913, an African farmer found something out of the ordinary in Boskop, Africa. It would end up being known as the Boskop Man. The remnants of an ancient, abnormally large skull would send the anthropology community spinning.
As years went on, other skulls would be discovered around the world, from South Africa to Israel. These abnormally big-headed humanoids were determined to be highly intelligent versions of anatomically modern human beings. It was speculated by neuroscientists, like Gary Lynch, that their abnormally large brain masses likely resulted in some very high IQs. Their IQ scores have been estimated to be between 140-150.... meaning that some of them may have been more intelligent than modern homo sapiens.
Speculation about whether these bizarre physical features were the result of a disease quickly dissipated as similar skulls emerged in other regions. Along with their big heads, these alien-like humanoids also had child-like faces. Unlike modern humans, their faces only made up 1/5th of their cranium, whereas modern humans have faces that make up 1/3rd of their craniums.
Biologists and anthropologists have credited rapid evolutionary mutation and growth for this bizarre and frightening physical feature that reminds us of the faces we've seen in science fiction films about alien abductions.
Writer, Loren Eiseley, referred to these ancient humanoids as the humans of the future in his book, The Immense Journey :
"It’s all happened already. Back there in the past, ten thousand years ago. The man of the future, with the big brain, the small teeth. He lived in Africa. His brain was bigger than your brain. His face was straight and small, almost a child’s face."
Since then, ancient astronaut theorists have incorporated these big skulls into their theories. Their theories have suggested that these ancient skulls belong to an alien race that visited Earth thousands of years ago, to time traveling, genetically evolved humans from the future.
Despite being the least like our other ancient relatives, like Homo Erectus and Neanderthals, most scientists aren't convinced that these skulls are of an alien origin. Of course, no DNA test has ever been conducted to either confirm or deny the claims of modern scientists and ancient astronaut theorists. But putting all speculation aside, as intriguing as the alien theories are, we should believe the scientists until indisputable evidence emerges.
As for what happened to these ancient humanoids, that could be a bigger mystery than where they came from.
Some in the scientific community believe that these Boskop people were common and roamed large parts of Africa, while others believe they were more rare. With a bigger brain comes more self awareness and reflection, according to some neuroscientists, which could have led to the extinction of the Boskop Man and his ancestors in competition with our more agile and physically superior ancestors.
Other scientists argue that the Boskop Man should have been able to outwit our less intelligent ancestors. These conflicting theories about the big-headed humanoids only create more mystery around their sudden disappearance.
There is the possibility, as pointed out by Gary Lynch and Robert Granger, that such levels of intelligence and self awareness had no real benefit in 10,000 BC, when survival was dependent on particular physical characteristics.
"Maybe all that thoughtfulness was of no particular survival value in 10,000 B.C. The great genius of civilization is that it allows individuals to store memory and operating rules outside of their brains, in the world that surrounds them. The human brain is a sort of central processing unit operating on multiple memory disks, some stored in the head, some in the culture. Lacking the external hard drive of a literate society, the Boskops were unable to exploit the vast potential locked up in their expanded cortex. They were born just a few millennia too soon."
To this day, there is no settled science to confirm why the Boskop people went extinct. Speculations about the genetic mutations that created them are as perplexing as the reasons for their disappearance. It's no wonder so many theorists have suggested Earth shattering theories about extraterrestrial origins and genetic manipulation. There simply isn't a single satisfying conclusion to be found in the scientific community about where the big-headed alien people came from, or disappeared to.
