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Photo by Tobias Jung on Patterson Cylindrical Projection
Homo Erectus:
Homo Erectus:
According to the Human Origins program at the Smithsonian Museum, Homo erectus was the first of the members of Homo to spread beyond the limited range of the Homo habilis in Eastern Africa. They extended from Europe to Java, and later evolved into many different subgroups of humans. The Homo erectus that lived in Africa evolved into modern day humans, like the Homo heidelbergensis, which later became the Neanderthales and Denisovans. The Asian groups, being separated from their African relatives, evolved into Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis. A new topic amongst the scientific community suggests that the Homo luzonensis is debatably still existent in South East Asia, as claimed sightings of the Ubag, a small man-like creature fitting the description of a have Homo luzonensis, have occurred. A certain level of interest in discovering extinct species in this area has cropped up due to the ongoing hunt for the Tasmanian Tiger, which has trickled over into interest for possibly extant Homo luzonensis.
The Homo erectus had a humanoid stance, hence the name, and was the first of the lineage to have a flat face with a distinct nose. It is also speculated that they had little body hair, which would make them very human-looking, besides their small size. These features are considered to adaptations to life lived on ground, indicating loss of earlier tree-climbing adaption, with the ability to walk and possibly run long distance. They are noted to have expanded braincase relative to the size of face, compared to earlier fossil humans.
Painting by Zdenek Burian; reproduced with permission
Fossil Discoveries:
Fossil Discoveries:
Courtesy of the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Remains of Homo erectus are found in caves but also in open sites like river sandstones and lake beds. Evidence of some other remains in caves are stone, charred animal bones, seeds, and ancient charcoal. The animal bones mean that they hunted or scavenged for meat. The evidence of burns and charring of these bones may prove that fires were used to cook meat. The benefit to such methods of cooking meat would help to explain the change to smaller teeth. Raw meat is more tough and requires more work like cutting and grinding than cooked food does, so it benefited previous species who had not used fire yet to have bigger teeth to eat their meat (Rightmire 2017). The first known fossil identification was found in 1891 by Eugene Dubois in Indonesia. It was first named Pithecanthropus erectus but was later changed to Homo erectus which means upright man (Homo erectus. 2018). The skeletal structure shows a huge separation from ways that previous hominids lived in the past. The different size and shape of the body reflect lifestyle changes and represent wide advancement for the new areas that it lived in.
Features:
Features:
Its body type was made more for running and movement. Its adaptations allowed it to walk further and even run for great distances. The femur bone of this species is similar to that of Homo sapiens providing evidence that they must have efficiently walked upright (Rightmire 2017). Homo erectus had a height range of 4ft 9in to 6ft 1in and a weight of 88-150 lbs (Homo erectus. 2018). So, it was bigger on average than the Australopithecus before it. Homo erectus had a more developed bone structure made for running by its arched feet and smaller toes complimented by the similar modern human-like femur. In whole, the skeletal structure is robust which helps to point that the life of Homo erectus was physically demanding (Rightmire 2017).
Photo by Claire Houck on Flickr
Photo by Tim Evanson from Flickr
The Brain:
The Brain:
According to the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, their brains were larger than their predecessors, but this was very dependent on the area and age of the specimen. Unlike modern humans, the Homo erectus’ brain was fairly sufficient at a young age, meaning that they could operate somewhat self sufficiently from birth. Just like the Homo habilis, the Homo erectus was able to make and use tools, including fire. The genesis of art and aquatic exploration also may have stemmed from this species, but evidence for that is debated, and even if accepted, the art and seafaringness would have been quite rare.
The cranial capacity of Homo erectus according to Antón is in the middle of great apes and humans today (Antón 2003). While the bodies are changing from one species to the next over thousands and millions of years, so are the skulls and brains. The space in the skull occupied by the brain is known as the cranial vault and this is what is compared between species to species. Geographic ancestry help distinguish the cranial capacity in a certain species. As described by Antón, the cranial capacity of Homo erectus was "ranging from about 700 cc (in East Africa and Georgia) to over 1,200 cc (in China and Indonesia), with some gradual increase in average size through time” (Antón 2003). The average brain capacity for the Javanese Homo erectus was 930 cc and the Chinese Homo erectus was slightly larger at 1,029 cc. The difference between the Java and Chinese Homo erectus is possibly due to variations of separate populations over time (Rightmire 2017).
The skull also shows notable features different from species before and after it. The lower part of the face for example are projected forward. The bone inside the nose which forms the wall is thinner and turned more outward with the nasal bridge being high and prominent. This structure allows for the better conservation of moisture which would help during exhalation. The benefit of this plays an advantage for Homo erectus traveling far distances in an arid environment. Overall the area around the braincase is low and formed with thick bones. Where the eyebrows would be located on a modern human, is a protruding brow ridge that sticks out and is more noticeable due to the flattened forehead. The lower jaw of Homo erectus is deep and has an absence of a chin. The jaw area and teeth are larger like in Australopithecus than in Homo sapiens (Rightmire 2017).
Use of Fire and Tools:
Use of Fire and Tools:
One explanation for the diminished teeth size from earlier hominids to Homo sapiens is through the use of fire which allowed for meat to be cooked. Evidence points Homo erectus to be one of if not the first species to actually use fire for warmth, protection, and cooking. Zhoukoudian, a, archeological site in China, is credited with providing evidence of fire use which occurred 400,000 years ago. The evidence is found as deposits of ash and charcoal but on the contrary, some of the ash could have been resulted from water deposits. The presence of burned bones does lead the notion that there was an ability for the species to roast meat (Rightmire 2017).
Besides the remains of fire and the art of cooking food are the signs of tools that were used. There are chopping tools made from split pebbles and other tools like the double-edged hand axe made from stone that are spread over Europe and Africa. From the evidence of these tools along with broken/charred animal bone remains found near the places Homo erectus was found, it could infer that the species was known to hunt (Rightmire 2017).
Photo by Gilbert, H., & Schick, K.
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