An interesting read on the mating habits of ancient hominids....


"Scientists believe that the private life of ancient people bore a striking resemblance to that of modern gorillas. One dominant male with a female harem was quite typical of them.

The research of 35 Paranthropus robustus hominid fossils, who lived on Earth about two million years ago, showed considerable differences between males and females. The research shed some light on peculiarities of their mating behavior. The growth of male Paranthropus boisei continued even at a mature age which is much longer in comparison with modern humans. British and Italian scientists found out that they were much bigger than females in that period."


Full article.

Keep in mind this is a hypothesis based on interpretation of the limited evidence.

Interesting that the h.erectus remains from Dmanisi in Georgia (the country) show a similar suggestion of sexual dimorphism. The two populations are roughly contemporaneous though at opposite ends of their presumed range.
And here's a post all about Paranthropus called "know your primates" from a blog called Afarensis
http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/2007/12/01/post_5/#more
All the news about our genome and how it got that way leaves me wondering what genetic potential do we have just sorta silenced for the mean time but still there until triggered.