1. Homo erectus
Chapter 11

2. Objectives
Assess physical characteristics regarding brain, body size and cranial morphology
Fossil sites from various areas in Africa, Asia and Europe
The objective of this lecture is to assess the physical characteristics regarding the brain, body size and cranial morphology of homo erectus. We will also take a look at the various fossil sites from areas in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Lecture: different from book.
Understanding of the time line.
Appreciate the fact that fossils found on several continents dating to a similar period in time.

3. Homo erectus 1.8 m.y.a. to 250,000 y.a. Migrated out of Africa
Two species? or none?
Direct line with modern homo sapiens
Homo erectus, as a species, existed for a considerable period of time before scientists suggested that a new species including archaic h.s.s and anatomically modern humans arrived on the scene. Currently, homo erectus is believed to be the first hominid to have migrated out of Africa. However, the time period in which this species left is still debatable.
As with most fossils, palaeoanthropologists argue whether Homo erectus should be classified as 1) a separate species on its own or just a more robust form of later homo sapiens (ie. could homo erectus interbreed with h.s.s?) Or 2) whether the species should be divided into two groups Homo ergaster (Africa) and Homo erectus (Asia, Europe etc).
Regardless of which theory you choose, both consider Homo erectus to be in direct line with anatomically modern humans.
The lumper theory: Wolpoff (1996) suggests that the morphological characteristics of Homo erectus are indistinguishable from later Homo sapiens. On account of this, he urges that the terminology Homo erectus should be dropped and reclassified as early Homo sapiens. The new nomenclature, he believes, demonstrates that all homo fossils are from a single species.
The splitter theory: In contrast, others researchers have decided that Homo erectus fossils are represented by two species. The large, robust variety of Homo erectus is found in Asia, whereas the less robust version with higher cranial vault and smaller browridges (Homo ergaster) is found in Africa.
Due to the paucity of complete skeletal remains, both theories are equally tenable.

4. Homo erectus New grade of evolution
Similar adaptative pattern
European/African sites: Homo ergaster; Asian sites: Homo erectus

5. Pleistocene 1.8 m. to 10,000 y.a. Ice Age
Hominids leave Africa = culture used to adapt to environmental changes
The climate, topography, water and access to food (moving herds) who have had an affect on the dispersal of hominids out of Africa and into Europe and Asia.
Homo erectus were most likely hunters and gatherers who followed migratory herds. We will look into the culture and lifestyle of Homo erectus, when we examine the Asian sites, which have revealed numerous culture artifacts associated with the homo erectus fossils.

6. Brain and body size 750 –1250cc with a mean of 900cc (25 to 40%)
Body size larger and more robust than H.habilis
Cranium changed to compensate for an increase in brain/body size
Reduction in tooth size
Compared to H. habilis, homo erectus had increased in both body and brain size.
The mean cranial capacity for habilines is approximately 600 cc, whereas h.erectus is around 900 cc. Therefore, it is clear that we are dealing with a separate species.
However, encephalization was the same: brain and body size were equivalent in both species.

7. Shape of the cranium Overall: pentagonal shape Large brow ridges
Low forehead
Nuchal torus
Sagittal ridge (keel)
Broad at the base
Shovel shaped incisors
From the back, the skull of homo erectus has a pentagon appearance. We will discuss the following features which contribute to this unusual shape, which belongs uniquely to homo erectus.
1). Overall, the cranium of he is thicker than other hominids
2) The brow-ridges are robust more so than any other hominid.
3) The forehead slopes back dramatically and the skull vault is long and low.
4) The nuchal torus is well pronounced.
5) A sagittal ridge (or keel) is found along the sagittal suture.
7) The cranial width of the skull is most broad at the base of the skull below the ear openings. In modern humans and other hominids the maximum width of the skull is above the ear openings.
All the above mentioned features reflect the increase in robusticity and brain size of h.e over the other hominids.
8) Homo erectus skeletons also have shovel shaped incisors. Shovel-shaped incisors are characteristics of Mongoloid populations today and are most likely remnants of these ancestoral features seen in the species H.erectus.

8. Shovel-shaped incisors

9. Postcranial bones Nariokotome – WT15000 (West Turkana) 1.6 mya
Vertebral column
Pelvic brim
Nariokotome - WT is one of the most complete hominid fossils (in addition to Lucy and Little foot (the complete australopithecine fossil) from Sterkfontein. Nariokotome has provided the only evidence regarding stature and size of the Homo erectus species.
Some background: The fossil was found in West Turkana in an area that was either a lake/swamp more than a million years ago. After death, the body had mostly floated to the bottom of the lake was covered with debris and eventually fossilized. According to researchers, the individual had been a juvenile male between 12 and 14 years and was approximately 170 cm tall. If he had reached adulthood, scientists speculate that he might have been 180 cm ? (6 ft). Even as a juvenile, this individual was much taller and more robust than the earlier habilines. This fossil is a good example of both the increase in brain and body size in Homo erectus.
Two other interesting characteristics are the vertebral column and pelvis.
Vertebral column
1. Small neural canal at the level of the thoracic vertebrae
2. This implies a reduced spinal cord.
3. Smaller spinal cord suggest less control of the intercostal muscles which are important for the production of speech. Therefore, it is suggested that Homo erectus did not have articulated speech.
Pelvis: The pelvis brim was narrow (male). Researchers have suggested that females would have also had restricted pelvii and thus, like modern humans, they would have had to give birth to small, immature young, which would have had a prolonged period of infant/child dependency.

10. Dmansi 1999 Republic of Georgia 1.7 mya – Homo erectus in Europe
Primitive, small-brained hominid with large canines.
More similar to early Homo
Question: Was Homo erectus the first hominid to leave Africa?
Oddly enough, the earliest site for the discovery of homo erectus fossils has also been the one most recently discovered. Two fossils were uncovered from Dmansi in 1999 and date to approximately 1.6 mya. It is interesting to note that this date is the same for the Nariokotome fossil that was found in West Turkana.
However, unlike Nariokotome, these hominids had longer arms, shorter legs and were more similar in appearance to homo habilis than homo erectus.
1. If homo erectus is a one species, then there is a large amount of variation with the group.
2. It was originally proposed that h.e. did not migrate out of Africa until around 1.0 m.y.a. This is no longer valid, with the appearance of h.e. fossils in Europe at 1.6.
Did homo habilis migrate out of Africa? Over time evolve independently into Homo erectus? These questions can only be answered with additional fossil discoveries.

11. Java (Indonesia) Eugene Dubois (1858-1940) Skull cap and femur
Pithecanthropus erectus
Skull cap and femur
Sangiran (1.6 mya), Ngandong (50 to 25,000 y.a)
He was the first scientist to devise a plan to find fossil remains. In 1887, he went to Sumatra in the search for the missing link.
In 1890, on the banks of the Solo river, he and his crew found a skull cap and a femur. Dubois assumed that the skull cap and femur belonged to the same individual and in 1894, he published his findings on Pithecanthropus erectus. He refused to accept later findings of homo erectus (then known as pithecanthropus) as being related with one another.
Some of the sites in Indonesia have been dated to over 1 m.y.a. and others have been dated between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago. However, these dates are not entirely reliable. The first date appears to be a bit old and the last date would put homo erectus species as contemporaries with modern homo sapiens. Needless to say, more research is needed in this area.
Java (Indonesia) has revealed several homo erectus sites that date to 800,000 years ago. The first discovery of a homo erectus fossil was in Java in Eugene Dubois had uncovered the skull cap and femur of what he referred to as Pithecanthropus or Ape Man.
Missing link (btw apes and humans). However, he denied that other fossils found by other researchers in the area had any relationship to pithecanthropus.
Today, the terms pithecanthropus or pithecanthropus erectus is no longer used with regard to homo erectus fossils.

12. Zhoukoudian (China) 500,000 to 200,000 y.a.
40 individuals (male and female)
High infant and young adult mortality
WWII - original homo erectus fossils were lost
Other chinese sites Lantian (650,000 ya), Hexian (250,000 ya)
Perhaps the most famous Homo erectus is that of Zhoukoudian in Asia. The site was discovered in 1917, when a foreign geologist (Andersson) found hominid teeth at a local Chinese apothecary. The villagers told him where they had collected the bones, and he sent out a team set to excavate the area. The stratigraphy in the cave has been dated to between 500,000 to 200,000 years ago, and at least 40 Homo erectus individuals have been found.
From the fossil remains, it was observed that life expectancy was low, with 40% of the individuals being under 14 years of age and only 2.6% reaching 50 or 60 years of age. This implies a high fertility and high mortality in the population.
In 1933(after Japan invaded China), Weidenreich (succeeded Black to the anatomy position) decided to ship the H.erectus fossils to Beijing and then to the US to keep them from falling into the hands of the Japanese. Weidenreich left China with casts, drawings and photographs of the fossils. The fossils themselves were never seen again.

13. Zhoukoudian - culture Inhabitants of the cave or scavenger deposits?
First controlled use of fire?
Perhaps the most important features of the Zhoukoudian sites is not the fossils themselves but the artifacts and ecofacts which have been found in the cave. In fact, most of what is known about the culture of Homo erectus has been interpreted from artifacts at Zhoukhoudian.
Two theories:
The first theory proposing that Homo erectus were proficient hunters and gatherers, and that the cave had been used as a living site. Ash from possible fire hearths were found within the cave, which led to the interpretation that homo erectus controlled fire. They also used a relatively sophisticated stone tool technique that included choppers, scrapers, and other small tools such as retouched flakes and bone awls. The bone awls imply that clothing would have been sewn as protection against the elements. However, the use of language among these individuals was highly unlikely.
2) Other researchers suggest that Homo erectus was a scavenger and not a hunter. They feel that the Homo erectus fossils found within the caves are the result of a giant hyena deposits. Therefore, they suggest that homo erectus was the hunted and not the hunter. However, they do suggest that the appearance of stone tools in the cave and cut marks on the bones imply that homo erectus engaged in scavenger type activities.
3) These researchers also question the abilities of Homo erectus to control fire. At Zhoukoudian, it appears that some of the bone was fossilized before it was burnt. They view the apparent fire hearths as depressions formed by water collecting in the cave during the last 500,000 years and they say the ash layers are just naturally accumulated organic sediment. Lastly, the cave was not open in the manner of habitation sites and that one could only enter the cave via a vertical shaft – such that it was more a trap than a shelter.
Therefore, it is possible to interpret two different realities from the same type of data.

14. Acheulian stone tools
Zhoukhoudian: increase in sophistication of tools
Bi-face
Homo erectus had a relatively sophisticated stone tool culture, which has been named the Acheulian. Since 1.4. M.y.a, this stone tool assemblages had been to be associated with homo erectus. The increase in quality and appearance of these tools when compared to the Oldowan tool industry has been directly related to a small increase in encephalization and dexterity of homo erectus when compared to homo habilis.
At Zhoukhoudian, these stone tools were shown to have increased in sophistication over time. In the early parts of the cave (500,000 years ago), these tools were large and made of a soft stone, whereas the later tools were smaller (contained more scrapers, burins and flakes) and were made out of a better quality stone.
This stone tool culture is only found in certain parts of the world, which include Africa, Southwestern Asia and Europe. The scarcity of these tools in other parts of Asia may be due to the fact that tools were made from more perishable substances such as bamboo.

15. East/South Africa East Turkana – ER3733, 1.8 m.y.a
Olduvai – OH9, 1.4 m.y.a
South Africa - SK 15, Swartkrans 1.3 to 1.0 m.y.a
Associated with the controlled use of fire
Except for Dmansi, all the oldest well – dated homo erectus sites have been found in East and South Africa. This was the reason for the initial theory which stated that Homo erectus migrated out of Africa only 1.0 m.y.a.
With regard to understanding the culture and behavior of Homo erectus, the Asian and European sites offer a greater wealth of information than the African sites. Due to the paucity of remains found in Africa and the large gap in time, some scientists have separated the African and Asian/European H.E. into two separate species.
Only a skull was found in East Turkana with cranial morphology that is similar to Homo erectus but with a small cranial capacity of only 848 cc. This skull was found in association with the Oldowan tool culture (The Acheulian tool culture which is representative of the h.e. species did not appear until after 1.4. Mya). Another skull was found in Olduvai Gorge and dates to approximately 400,000 years later than East Turkana. This cranium also showed homo erectus traits but has a much larger cranial capacity of 1,067 cc. Lastly, Homo erectus mandible was found at Swartkrans and dates between 1.3 and 1.0 mya. These three sites show that homo erectus species were in Africa for a considerable period of time, however, your book and most researches emphasis Asian homo erectus specimens. These sites date to a much later period in time and are usually rich in cultural artifacts.

16. Acheulian stone tool culture
Scrapers, burins, retouched flakes and awls
Africa, Southwestern Asia and Europe
Homo erectus had a relatively sophisticated stone tool culture, which has been named the Acheulian. Since 1.4. M.y.a, this stone tool assemblages had been to be associated with homo erectus. The increase in quality and appearance of these tools when compared to the Oldowan tool industry has been directly related to a small increase in encephalization and dexterity of homo erectus when compared to homo habilis.
At Zhoukhoudian, these stone tools were shown to have increased in sophistication over time. In the early parts of the cave (500,000 years ago), these tools were large and made of a soft stone, whereas the later tools were smaller (contained more scrapers, burins and flakes) and were made out of a better quality stone.
This stone tool culture is only found in certain parts of the world, which include Africa, Southwestern Asia and Europe. The scarcity of these tools in other parts of Asia may be due to the fact that tools were made from more perishable substances such as bamboo.

17. Trends in homo erectus
Gradual increase in cranial capacity, decrease in robust body form, more protrusive nose.
Gradual sophistication of the biface and the Acheulian tool assemblage.
Potential hunter and scavenger
Gathering of wild plant foods
As a hominid, Homo erectus existed for virtually 1 million years and little change was observed in their overall features. This is longer than our own species who had been around for approximately 200,000 years at most.
Throughout their one million year existence, a gradual increase in cranial capacity has been noted with a decrease in the robust body form and the appearance of a more protrusive nose. (therefore, it is possible that the species is evolving into what we later see as archaic homo sapiens).
The issue of whether homo erectus hunted or not is still debatable. At some Homo erectus sites, bifaces are found in association with large animal remains which give evidence for hunting capabilities (800,000). However, at other contemporary sites the distinct association between hunting and being hunted is not entirely clear. Therefore, homo erectus can be placed in a category of probably being an efficient scavenger and gatherer, who may have had the potential to hunt and kill animals.

18. Summary First out of Africa? Distinct cranial morphology
Acheulian tool kit – bi-face
Control of fire?
Culture (adaptative strategy)
With the arrival of the Dmansi material in 1999, the notion that Homo erectus was the first out of Africa has been questioned. With the date of 1.8 mya in Europe (Georgia), it is possible that a more primitive hominid was the first to migrate from the African continent.
Homo erectus was larger and more robust and had a larger cranial capacity than his habiline predessecors. On account of this robusticity and increase in brain size, we see a distinct change in the cranium. From the back, the homo erectus skull has a pentagonal appearance which is due to XX, Xx.
The bi-face was the general tool for all H.erectus groups throughout the existence of the species. This core tool was planned and designed by its makers and can be considered the ‘swiss army knife’ for Homo erectus. The biface could be used to cut, scrape, pound and dig.
Language capabilities are debatable. From the vertebral column of Nariokotome, it is clear that articulated speech was not present 1.6 mya. However, this may have changed over time.
Likewise the use of fire is unclear in china, but has been found in association with homo erectus as Swartkrans.
Homo erectus changed the face of hominid evolution.