Later Human Evolution
Homo erectus
Homo erectus: Traits
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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.
• This size range means that the larger brained
individuals of this species exhibit a fiftypercent increase in brain size over the older
Homo habilis.
• The largest brain sizes of H. erectus fall
within the range of modern humans, although
the H. erectus brain is configured somewhat
differently than our own.
Traits
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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
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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
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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
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Homo erectus
invented fire
To cook food, scare
away animals and
travel to colder
places
controlled fire
Migrate Out-of-Africa
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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
Migration
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The earliest Homo erectus finds are in the Rift
Valley of Africa and in South Africa.
Stone tools and camp sites are widely distributed
over Africa, including sites in what is now the
Sahara desert. By at least 1 million years ago, H.
erectus migrated out of Africa to Asia and
Europe.
Recent dating techniques applied to earlier finds
in Java and the Caucasus mountains indicate
dates much earlier than that and would place
Homo erectus in Asia over 2 million years ago.
• Such early dates would, if proven accurate, dramatically
overturn the currently accepted chronology of early
human development.
• At this date, however, the earliest claimed dates for H.
erectus outside of Africa are still highly controversial.
Homo Erectus
Habitat/Map
Asia
(cold)
Europe
(cold)
Africa
(hot)
Australia
(hot)
Htttp://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/disp.html
Homo Erectus
Important Finds
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Turkana Boy
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Discovered by
Kamoya Kimeu
Peking Man
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Was found
near Beijing
Name used for
the bones of an
extinct hominid
Reconstruction
of Peking man
Skull
Peking man pic
http://www.inhandmuseum.com/LA/e
rectus/ergaster.html
Variation
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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.
• The oldest, approximately 1.5
million years in age, is on the
left, and the most recent,
approximately .5 million years
old, on the right.
• Seen together, these
specimens show the
developmental trends within
the species.
• Over time, the face evolved
toward a flatter, more vertical
plane with a larger and more
rounded cranium as brain size
increased.
Homo ergaster
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By 1.9 million years ago, another lineage of the genus
Homo emerged in Africa. This species was Homo
ergaster.
Traditionally, scientists have referred to this species as
Homo erectus and linked this species name with a
proliferation of populations across Africa, Europe, and
Asia.
Yet, since the first discoveries of Homo erectus, it had
been noted that there were differences between the
early populations of "Homo erectus" in Africa, and the
later populations of Europe, Africa and Asia.
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.
Since modern humans share the same differences as
H. ergaster with the Asian H. erectus, scientist
consider H. ergaster as the probable ancestor of later
Homo populations.
Homo ergaster: WT 15,000
Narikatome Boy
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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
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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.
Homo ergaster in Africa
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ER 3733 represents a mature female of the early
human species Homo ergaster.
The gender identification comes from a
comparison of the anatomical features of her face
with another Koobi Fora for a cranium KNM ER
3883, and the KNM WT 15000 male, found on the
opposite side of Lake Turkana.
The features of KNM ER 3733 are markedly less
robust. It's known to be an adult on the basis of
the cranial sutures (which were fully closed), the
extent of the wear on the teeth, and the eruption
of the third molars before the individual's death.
Homo ergaster (ER3733)
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Note the difference in
the shape of the
cranium. On the top,
H. erectus has a long
cranium with a
"transverse torus," a
protruding area of
bone at the back of
the braincase.
H. ergaster has a
more globe-shaped
braincase that lacks
this torus.
• Although the African
cranium and the East
Asian reconstruction
both depict females, the
later H. erectus (right)
exhibits larger
browridges.
H. erectus
H. ergaster