This dissertation is the description of the Bodo cranium (specimen number 266-1). The Bodo cranium is a fossil cranium that was discovered in Bodo D,Ar, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia in 1976. It is estimated to be of early Middle Pleistocene age perhaps around 700,000 years before present. It is made up of a large part of the face, most of the vault bones and part of the base of the cranium of an individual which has been assigned to the "archaic" Homo sapiens. This dissertation is made up of an osteological description and a comparative description aimed at a phylogenetic assessment. Evaluations of the cranial capacity, gender and age of 266-1 have also been made. The results are that the cranial capacity of 266-1 is close to 1450 c.c. and that it is most probably a middle aged individual. We cannot be absolutely sure that it was a male individual as has been often remarked. The taxonomic placement of Bodo into either Homo erectus or Homo sapiens is tested here. A crude "phenetic" scheme allies it with the Asian representatives of the former. Cladistic schemes linking it to either one are equally parsimonious. A placement of Bodo as the ancestor of the two can be ruled out on cladistic grounds.
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