Later Human Evolution

Later Homo: Homo erectus

Archaic Homo sapiens:
Homo antecessor
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo neandertalensis
 Homo erectus: Traits
 Homo erectus lived from
approximately 2 million to around
400,000 years ago.
 Homo erectus is a large brained
species, with adult brains ranging
from 900 to 1200 cc.
 Traits
 Were from the neck down almost exactly
like moderns
 Had no chin, thick and big brow ridges
 Bigger teeth than moderns
 Males were much bigger than females, but
this changes over time
 More robust body
 Body Size
 male:170cm,66kg
 female:150cm, 56kg
Height comparisons
 Acheulian Hand Axes
 Homo erectus was an accomplished tool
maker and tool user; hand-axes were widely
used in addition to sharp-edged flakes.
 The tools of Homo erectus are the first in
the fossil record to show conscious design
of any complexity.
 Wooden tools and weapons are also
assumed to be present in the tool kit of this
species, but none has been preserved in
the fossil record.
Acheulian Hand Axe
 Controlled Use of Fire
 H. erectus may have been the first
species to use and control fire.
 This milestone in human
development occurred 1 to l.5 million
years ago.
 Control of fire may have enabled
humans to move out of Africa and
into colder climates in Europe and
Asia.
 Use of Fire
 Homo erectus
invented fire
 To cook food, scare
away animals and
travel to colder
places
 controlled fire
 Migrate Out-of-Africa
 The earliest specimens of Homo erectus
are found in Africa, but, sometime after 1
million years ago, Homo erectus
apparently migrated out of Arica.
 Tools and remains of this species have
been found widely distributed in Europe
and Asia.
 Homo erectus is thus the first human
species to migrate out of Africa and adapt
to a variety of Old World environments.
Sites in & out of Africa
 Homo Erectus

Habitat/Map
Asia
(cold)

Europe
(cold)

Africa
(hot)
Australia
(hot)
Htttp://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/disp.html
 Homo Erectus

Important Find
 Peking Man
 Was found near Beijing
 Name used for the
bones of an extinct
hominid
 Reconstruction of
Peking man Skull

http://www.inhandmuseum.com/LA/e
rectus/ergaster.html
 Homo ergaster
 By 1.9 million years ago, another lineage of
the genus Homo emerged in Africa. This
species was Homo ergaster.
 Many researchers now separate the two into
distinct species Homo ergaster for early
African "Homo erectus", and Homo erectus for
later populations mainly in Asia.
 Scientists consider H. ergaster as the probable
ancestor of later Homo populations.
 Variation

 Individual specimens of Homo erectus vary

widely but some trends are visible over time.
 These artist's reconstructions of three faces
from skulls show variations over a period of
about a million years.
 Note the difference
in the shape of the
cranium. On the top,
H. erectus has a long
cranium with a
protruding area of
bone at the back of
the braincase. H. erectus
 H. ergaster has a
more globe-shaped
braincase that lacks
this torus.

H. ergaster
 Homo ergaster: WT 15,000
Narikatome Boy

 Boy, 12 years
 Long legs narrow hips and shoulders
 Vertebrate opening sin spinal cord
smaller than moderns
 Brain size large (850-1100)
 Front tooth size increase, back tooth
decrease
 Tall (5-5.5 feet), thick bones.
 1.6 mya-200 kya
Narikatome Boy
 The nearly full skeleton at the
right belonged to a teen-age
boy, 12 or 13, who lived 1.65
years ago near what is now
Lake Turkana in east Africa.
 He was five feet, four inches
tall, and his body is
remarkably modern looking.
 This is the most complete find
of an ancient human ancestor
yet discovered, and it has
provided a wealth of
information.
 Yet this immature male had
already surpassed a height of
five feet at the time of his
death, and probably would
have attained a height of 6
feet and a weight of roughly
150 lbs.
 Archaic Homo sapiens
 For many years, scientists placed any
problematic specimens displaying mixtures of
"erectus-like" and "modern" traits into a
confusing category: "Archaic" Homo
sapiens (basically meaning any Homo
sapiens that didn't look quite modern).
 Recently, it has been proposed to separate
these individuals into a distinct species. For
this purpose, the names Homo antecessor &
Homo heidelbergensis have been assigned.
 Homo antecessor
 The species Homo antecessor is another very
controversial species designation. The species
was designated by J.L. Arsuaga et al. to the
remains of several individuals found at the Gran
Dolina site, Spain.
 The discovery was significant because the
remains have been securely dated at over 780
kyr. This makes the material the earliest known
European specimens.
 The find breathed new life into the argument for
the validity of H. heidelbergensis, as well as
creating a whole new species: H. antecessor.
 Homo antecessor traits
 Has a marked double-arched browridge (like
later Neanderthals and Chinese erectus).
 An approximate brain size of 1000 cc.
 Reduced mandibular thickness when
compared to ergaster or early erectus.
 Has small postcanines that resemble those
of the habilines (habilis and rudolfensis), but
they are still within the ergaster/erectus
range.
 Shovel-shaped maxillary incisors (ancestral
condition).
 Gran Dolina Site, Spain
 The most complete
specimen is Hominid 3,
which is also the type
specimen for
antecessor.
 This is unusual because
Hominid 3 is a 10-year
old, and therefore has
not fully developed its
skeletal characteristics.
 The specimen was
chosen because it
highlighted all the
features that the
researchers were
attempting to describe
as typic of the species.
Gran Dolina site, Spain
 Homo heidelbergensis
 Homo heidelbergensis is the species name
now given to a range of specimens from
about 800,000 years ago to the appearance
of anatomically modern Homo sapiens (the
species to which we belong).
 The species name was originally proposed
for the fossil mandible discovered at Mauer,
a town near Heidelberg, Germany. It is a
nearly complete early human mandible that
is very robustly built, but lacks a chin.
 Homo
Species:
heidelbergensis
Age: Middle Pleistocene
Date of
October 21, 1907
Discovery:
Location: Mauer, Germany
Discovered An anonymous
by: workman

This mandible was found by a workman in the Rösch sandpit just north of the village
of Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1907. The workman showed the find to the
anatomist O. Schoentensack, who provided the initial description of the specimen.
The mandible is complete with only the premolars and first two molars on the left
side missing. The molars were recovered separately, although the premolars were
lost.
 Kabwe Skull
• The date for this site based on the
associated animal fossils found is at least
125,000 years old, and is probably
significantly older.
• Some researchers have proposed that
Kabwe may be a member of the African
population from which all modern humans
descended, although this cannot be
definitively proven.
 Species: Homo heidelbergensis
125,000 to 300,000
Age:
years
Date of
Discovery June 17, 1921
:
Location: Kabwe, Zambia
Discovere
Tom Zwiglaar
d by:

The braincase profile is low and slopes back from a large supraorbital
torus reminiscent of earlier H. erectus specimens.
There is also the remnant of a sagittal keel and an occipital torus at the
back of the skull, also recalling H. erectus. However, the face is more
modern in appearance (less prognathic, flatter) and the brain size of
about 1300 cc. is larger than seen in H. erectus.
Thus, this cranium preserves many traits that are reminiscent of earlier
H. erectus and hints of more modern traits known later in H. sapiens.
• The cranium shows
evidence of disease and
wounds that occurred in the
lifetime of this individual.
• Ten of the upper teeth have
cavities, and dental
abscesses of the upper jaw
are clearly visible in the
upper photograph (above
the right incisor/canine) and
the middle photograph
(above the first molar).
• Additionally, a partially
healed wound is visible in
the bottom two
photographs, above and
anterior of the hole for the
ear.
• This wound measured
roughly a quarter-inch
across, and was made by
either a piercing instrument
or the tooth of a carnivore.
Exactly which is unclear
Advanced Acheulian Tools
 Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis
Neandertals (ca. 200-32
 Species restrictedkya)
to Europe, eastern
Middle East during height of Ice Age
 Evolved to be specifically cold-adapted:
 Short and stocky body type
 Large nose (nasal passages for warming air)
 Barrel chest (also for warming air)
 Long, low, thick skull but with large cranial
capacity (1250-1750 cc)
 Heavy brow ridge
 Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis
Neandertals (ca. 200-32
kya)
Neandertal
 Not the “Cave Men” they
were made out to be!
 First to bury dead
 First to create art on rocks and bone
 Elaborate Stone and Bone Tool
technology
 Mousterian tools
 Some degree of altruism
 Old Man of La Chapelle
 Individual from Shanidar
Mousterian Tools: Period of
stone tools associated with
Neandertals
Burial at Tabun, Mt. Carmel,
Israel
Shanidar 1: Eye Socket crushed-blinded in that
eye
“Old Man” of La-Chapelle
Modern vs. Neandertal