1. Human Evolution and PREHISTORY
Chapter Eight: HOMO ERECTUS AND THE EMERGENCE OF HUNTING AND GATHERING San persistence hunting

2. Chapter Preview
Who Was Homo erectus/ergaster? What Were The Cultural Capabilities Of Homo erectus/ergaster? What Were The Consequences Of Homo erectus/ergaster’s Improved Abilities To Adapt Through Culture?

3. Homo erectus/ergaster hominin complex
Some anthropologists view the variation in post-1.9 my Homo fossils of Africa, Asia and Europe to be different enough to warrant two species
Others (“lumpers”) assign all fossils immediately after Homo habilis only to Homo erectus
There are great adaptive similarities; hence, a hominin complex

4. Homo erectus/ergaster Fossils
Fossil evidence shows that by 1 million-500,000 ya hominins of this species had spread from Africa to China, Europe, the Republic of Georgia, India, Java

5. Homo erectus/ergaster
Cranial capacity range, 600 – 1,225 cc; overlaps with KNM ER1470 and modern humans (figure 8.3)
Low, long, narrow cranial vault, with greatest width at base
Near-modern development of brain, especially in speech area
Massive brow ridges with marked constriction
Sloping forehead and receding chin
Rugged face, teeth and jaws but smaller than H. habilis

6. Homo erectus/ergaster

7. Homo erectus/ergaster
Postcranial skeleton
Known mainly from African H. ergaster
More heavily muscled than ours
Increase in stature from early Homo
Decrease in sexual dimorphism in body size; this may be due to the increase in female size as an adaptation to childbirth

8. Homo erectus from Java
Eugene Dubois, original discoverer of first fossils in 1891
1.8 million to 500,000 years ago
About 40 individuals
Teeth and jaws of earliest fossils are quite similar to those of Homo habilis

9. Homo erectus from China
Davidson Black was the original discoverer of the first H. erectus fossils (~45 individuals) at Zhoukoudian in 1927
Sinanthropus
600,000 to 300,000 years ago

10. Homo erectus from China
Recent discoveries:
Earliest fossil (Lunguppo), a lower jaw fragment as old as the Java fossils
resembles African Homo habilis
Overall, Chinese fossils are more recent than the Java and have more modern characteristics, e.g. smaller teeth, larger cranial capacity

11. Homo erectus/ergaster

12. The African Fossils Olduvai and Lake Turkana
12-year old boy who died 1.6 mya
An adult who died of a massive overdose of vitamin A
Olorgesailie, Kenya
Slightly younger than 1 my

13. Turkana boy
Remains of a boy who died in his early teens.

14. The African Fossils
In some African fossils, there are more strongly developed brow ridges and temporal muscle scars than in Asian fossils
In others, there are thinner crania and more primitive mandibles
The variation between Asian and African/European fossils may lie well beyond that of a single species

15. Homo erectus from Europe
Dmansi, republic of Georgia, dating to 1.7 mya
Likely ancestor to Asian H. erectus
Difficult to assign to a species because they share characteristics with both earlier and later fossils
Cranium is small and rounded, with face similar to early H. erectus/ergaster
Mandible is unique
Brain size is small, within range of H. habilis

16. Earliest Homo erectus from Europe
England, Germany, Spain, Italy
860,000 to 500,000 years ago
The Spanish fossils are the oldest human ancestors with a relatively modern face
These fossil traits are derived and the discoverers of the fossils place them in a separate species, H. antecessor, ancestral to H. heidelbergensis

17. Multiple Species
The fact that the earliest evidence of hominins comes from Spain and Italy suggests crossing from North Africa
Open water crossing was required, a feat that H. erectus/ergaster was capable of doing 800,000 ya in Indonesia
Gene flow was possible between Africa and Europe; could the early Europeans be a separate species if there was no reproductive isolation? (see Table 8.1, text)

18. Relationship between H. erectus/ergaster and H. habilis
Smaller teeth and larger brains are a continuation of the trend first seen in H. habilis
New traits are increased body size, reduced sexual dimorphism, more “human” body form
It is difficult to distinguish early erectus/ergaster from habilis (Figure 8.6), but likely one evolved from the other fairly abruptly, 1.9 to 1.6 mya

19. THE CULTURE OF Homo erectus/ergaster

20. The Acheulean Tool Tradition
Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia
Handaxe is central tool
In East Africa, handaxes date to 1.6 mya
In Europe, they are no older than 500,000 years
Sites in Europe increase in number dramatically at same time as handaxes appear; this suggests increased gene flow into Europe

21. Characteristics of Acheulean Tools
Developed from the Oldowan tradition, e.g. Beds I and II, Olduvai
Tool shapes have become standardized
Sharper points and more regular cutting edges than Oldowan tools
More cutting edge available from same amount of stone

22. Acheulean Tool Kits Diversification Cleavers, picks and knives
Flake tools
Retouched flakes, e.g. points, scrapers, borers
Supplementary tools of bone, antler, wood

23. Tools in East Asia
Spread of Homo from Africa took place before the invention of the handaxe
In East Asia people developed a variety of choppers, scrapers, points, burins different from those in the West
Overall, stone implements were not common; likely bamboo and other local woods were used

24. Homo erectus and the Use of Bamboo
ORIGINAL STUDY
Homo erectus and the Use of Bamboo
The frequency of the handaxe in Asian tool kits is very low
Chopper-chopping tools predominate
Their distribution coincides with the distribution of bamboo
It has been suggested that bamboo was the main source of materials for making tools and the stone choppers were manufactured to work with bamboo

25. Acheulean Tools
Each tool served more than one purpose; e.g. handaxes could kill game, dig up roots
Improved selection of raw materials, e.g. flint rather than basalt
Invention of the baton and striking-platform methods of percussion

26. Use of Fire
Earliest use of fire appears in South Africa, 1.3 to 1 mya, possibly for protection from predators
Kao Poh Nam rock shelter, Thailand, 700,000 ya; fire hearth with butchered, burned animal bones
Other uses for fire could have been warmth, light, cooking, thawing carcasses, clearing forest
Fire gave people more control over their environment

27. Other Aspects of Homo erectus culture
Construction of shelters, e.g. Bilzingsleben, Germany, 350,000 ya
Clothing was necessary in the climates of China and Europe
Courtesy of Palomar College, Anthropology

28. Other Aspects of Homo erectus culture
Developed an ability to organize a hunt for live animals, and skill in hunting
e.g. Ambrona and Torralba, Spain, 400,000 ya
elephants, horses, rhinoceroses
butchered and killed

29. Other Aspects of Homo erectus culture
4. open-water travel, e.g. to the island of Flores, Indonesia
Rudimentary symbolic artifacts, e.g. ox rib with engraving from a site in France

30. Language
Vocal tract and brain of Homo erectus are intermediate between Homo sapiens and Australopithecus
Modern-sized hypoglossal canal by 500,000 years ago
Changeover from gestural to spoken language may have played role in reduction of tooth and jaw size, making it easier to speak

31. Archaic Homo sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic
NEXT TIME:
Archaic Homo sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic