Human Evolution
and PREHISTORY
Chapter Eight:
HOMO ERECTUS AND THE
EMERGENCE OF HUNTING
AND GATHERING
Link to the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology
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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?
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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
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Homo erectus/ergaster Fossils
Fossil evidence shows that
by 1 million-500,000 ya
hominins of this species
had spread from
African to China,
Europe, the Republic of
Georgia, India, Java
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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
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Homo erectus/ergaster
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Homo erectus/ergaster
Postcranial skeleton
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Homo erectus/ergaster
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Multiple Species
The fact that the earliest evident 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)
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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
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THE CULTURE OF Homo
erectus/ergaster
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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
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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
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Acheulean Tool Kits
Diversification
Cleavers, picks and knives
Flake tools
Retouched flakes, e.g.
points, scrapers, borers
Supplementary tools of
bone, antler, wood
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Other Aspects of Homo erectus
culture
1. Construction of shelters, e.g. Bilzingsleben, Germany,
350,000 ya
2. Clothing was necessary in the climates of China and Europe
Courtesy of Palomar College, Anthropology
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Other Aspects of Homo erectus
culture
3. 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
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Other Aspects of Homo erectus
culture
4. open-water travel, e.g. to the island of Flores,
Indonesia
5. Rudimentary symbolic artifacts, e.g. ox rib
with engraving from a site in France
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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
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NEXT TIME:
Archaic Homo sapiens and
the Middle Paleolithic
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