Early Homo

1
Early Homo

• Homo habilis
• 2.5-1.8 mya
• contemporaneous with Australopithecus boisei and
  Australopithecus robustus for at least 500,000
  years.
• Then no fossils of either australopithecine gone
  by c. 1.2 mya.

2
?
3
Homo habilis and H. rudolfensis
4
Olduwan stone culture Homo habilis
chert flint
5
Homo erectus 1.8 mBP c. 27,000 BP
6
(No Transcript)
7
Peking man
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
8
A basic tool of Homo erectus Acheulian
biface hand axe
1.5 mya - 250,000 ybp entire stone
flaked Acheulian technique
Tool kit
9
Homo ergaster / Homo erectus sites
1.7 mya
1.8 mya and 27-53,000 ybp !
1.8 mya Date too conservative
10
Pleistocene Epoch

• 1.8 mya 10,000 ya, then Holocene Epoch
• Ice Ages
• Alternation of warm and cold climates
• Glaciers grow, move south
• Water locked up in ice
• Lowering sea level
• Land bridges
• Facilitated dispersal of Homo erectus of Africa
  at least 1.8 mya

11
Glaciation - land bridges
12
(No Transcript)
13
Relative brain size
14
Brain size / time relationship
15
Homo erectus
16
Homo erectus or H. ergaster
c. 8-9 years old 8-9 day growth increments Alt.
11 years old
Nariokotome boy
Kenya, Africa 1.6 mya 56 tall Est. 6 had
he survived to maturity
Prominent epiphyseal plates
17
(No Transcript)
18
1.5 mya optical laser scan H. erectus trackway
in Kenya (Ileret)
Au. afarensis