Later Human Evolution

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Later Human Evolution

• Homo erectus

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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.
• This size range means that the larger brained
  individuals of this species exhibit a
  fifty-percent 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.

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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
• male170cm,66kg
• female150cm, 56kg

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Height comparisons
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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.

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Acheulian Hand Axe
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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.

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Use of Fire

• Homo erectus invented fire
• To cook food, scare away animals and travel to
  colder places
• controlled fire

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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.

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Sites in out of Africa
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Migration

• 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.

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Habitat/Map
Homo Erectus
Asia (cold)
Europe (cold)
Africa (hot)
Australia (hot)
Htttp//www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/disp.html
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Important Finds
Homo Erectus

• Turkana Boy
• Discovered by Kamoya Kimeu
• Peking Man
• 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/erectus/ergaster.ht
ml
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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.
• 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.

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Homo ergaster

• 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.

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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

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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.

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Homo ergaster in Africa

• 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.

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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
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