Leakey (1935) established the name Homo kanamensis with Kanam 1 as the holotype. Kanam 1 preserves the anterior portion of a mandible. The labial side of the symphysis is obscured by a pathological growth, interpreted by some as a cancerous sarcoma (Montegu, 1957; Tobias, 1960). Leakey (1935) interpreted the anterior portion of the mandible as preserving a mental eminence and he attributed the age of the fossil to the later Middle Pleistocene or early Upper Pliestocene. For Leakey the morphology of the chin and the age suggested a taxon presaging Homo sapiens.
Campbell (1965) recognized Homo kanamensis Leakey, 1935 as available and potentially valid, and Groves (1989) included the taxon as an available junior synonym of Homo sapiens heidelbergensis.
