Homo Erectus And How Were They Like Us

Homo erectus was first found in Africa and the fossilized remains dated 1.8 and 1.0 million years old. The Homo erectus traits are very similar toward the modern human traits. Homo erectus brain size was smaller than the Homo sapiens. Homo erectus had a brain size of approximately 650 cc and Homo sapiens had a brain size of approximately 1251

In the quest to explain human origins it is necessary to find a species that bridges modern man (Homo sapiens) with the apes. To fill this gap evolutionists have set forth Homo erectus, who lived approximately 400,000 to 1.6 million years ago (Johanson and Shreeve1989). Although the distinctions are somewhat vague, below the neck, Homo sapiens and Homo erectus are practically Identical and Homo erectus was responsible for pioneering the use of standard tools (such as the hand axe), big-game hunting, and the use of fire (Johanson and Shreeve1989).

Human evolution was one of the most believed theories that explained how humans were created. As time progressed, so did the humans. However, there were many differences between modern humans and the prehistoric man which includes the capacity to think, larger brains, and a longer life expectancy. The prehistoric man had to survive on their own for the most part like finding food and shelter. Life for prehistoric man was not easy due to the harsh environments they had to live through by creating weapons, tools and communities.

In the Article “Redrawing Humanity’s Family Tree” by John Noble Wilford, describes how two different skulls challenge the theories of human origins and migrations. The Central African skull, that dates back to nearly 7 million years ago, was assigned to a whole new genus and species because of its apelike and evolved hominid species. The 1.75-million-year-old Georgian skull shows evidence that the first hominids may have been intercontinental travelers who set motion the migrations that occupied the whole planet. Finally a third skull was found that is the same age and shares a resemblance but, the size of the skull suggests that the brain was smaller than expected for H. erectus.

They were found in Africa 600-200kya, Asia 200-130kya, and European 800-200kya. They had big cranial capacity. They were using Acheulean tools. They led to the development of Neanderthal, the closed ancestor of modern human. They occupied the continents from 130-30kya. There fossils were excavated in Neander Valley, Germany in 1856 by C. Fuhlrott. Their cranial and postcranial features were close to the modern human. They had thin cranial bone, which the capacity was about 1500cc; barrel-chested; and short distal limb segment. Neanderthal climate had changed significantly to cold weather. According to Bergmann’s and Allen’s rule, populations living in cold climates tend to have larger body (trunk) sizes and shorter extremities than those living in warm regions (“Human Biological Adaptability: Adapting to Climate Extremes”). Neanderthals developed Mousterian Tool Industry with greater variety of more standardized tool type. The high quality raw material was occasionally used. They used tools for cutting plant material, meat, scraping hides, and sharping tools. Sometimes, shaped bone was used as raw material. Those tools were stable over time and space. There are some new evidences that the Neanderthal had showed the artistic expression. At more than 39,000 years old, the etchings rival in age the oldest cave art in Europe — and they are the first to be unquestionably done by a Neanderthal (Rodríguez-Vidal, J. et

This article shows how Paleoanthropologist David Lordkipanidze and his group of archeologist discovered a 1.8 million-year-old skull fossil that could lead to knowing more about the earliest known ancestors of humans that ventured outside of Africa. Lordkipanidze’s excavation in the Georgia site known as Dmanisi. With this archeology find, it has been concluded that all early fossil humans belong to the same species known as Homo erectus. The article explains that the Dmanisi hominins had brains less than half the size of a modern human’s, and are key to understand the evolution and expansion these ancestors experienced from Africa to Eurasia. Genetic studies indicate that their expansion began from Africa about 1.9 million years ago. The article also mentions that with these new findings there can be a better ground from where to start to understand these ancestors as how they lived and socialized. Lordkipanidze does mention that the Dmanisi “were very primitive, we think there were social groups that connected with each other and learned from each other”.

The evidence shown refers to the fact that they were both part of the same Australopithecus ancestors. However based on brain size to body weight and the shape of muzzle angle and skull shape both share distinct similarities to man and whether only one or both were direct ancestors is still a moot topic. Based on evidence collected Homo erectus shares more similarities to Homo sapiens then that of Homo ergaster (sharing the same dimensioning of the Nasal Opening, cheek Bone, the Post orbital constriction (for exact dimensions refer to table above)) The brain sizes are also remarkably similar the Homo erectus having a brain capacity 69% of Homo sapiens. Based on this evidence it is concluded that Homo erectus is placed as an earlier ancestor evolved from that of Homo ergaster, despite the two living in very similar time periods.

The earliest stage of human evolution came to be found in Africa. Human history began about 7 million years ago and came from a descendant of the gorilla line. These early humans known as Homo erectus dispersed to different continents and started colonizations. Since every human being came from the same background it supports diamond’s theory that different human intellectuals wasn’t the cause of different advancements. As the inhabitants of Africa started to create new tools Europe and Asia began to follow this trend. As of some 400,000 years ago, Cro-Magnons in Europe developed modern skeletons, superior weapons, and other advanced cultural traits, a sign human evolution.

1. According to the video, what anatomical or social characteristics do we share with the earliest humans like Turkana Boy from Africa? Homo erectus was the first one of our ancestors who had bodies like ours.

       In the article, "Natural History of Homo erectus" by Susan C. Antón discussed our view of H. erectus is different today than when Pithecanthropus erectus, then only the second fossil hominin taxon to be discovered, was described by Dubois (1894) (Antón, C. Susan, 162). H. erectus was the most primitive and smallest-brained of the fossil hominins (Antón, C. Susan, 162). Therefore, early observations expended significant effort showing that the Indonesian fossils from Trinil were actually hominins (Antón, C. Susan, 162). Thus, it took the dismissal of Piltdown and the broad acceptance of Australopithecus as a hominin ancestor, along with the substantial Asian

Homo erectus was a lot more successful then earlier hominids due to many reasons. Homo erectus were bigger in body and brain size which increased intelligence and physical ability. Meat was a major part of there diet unlike earlier hominins, they were able to make tools like spears and weapons that make it easier to kill animals. Not only did that help, they also planned hunting making it easier to find and kill animals in groups. They were able to make hunting plans and groups because they had social structure unlike the earlier hominins. The tools that they made were for all types of different things. Tools were a lot different then each other which gave more variety of use.

The next species to appear were the Homo erectus which might have descended from Homo habilis. They were the first human whose fossils were found outside of Africa. They also had larger brain than the species before them. Homo sapiens sapiens came after the Homo Neanderthalensis; they are the only human species around. This could have been due to the result of increase brain sizes that allows more cognitive abilities that help them adapt to different environment changes and hence survive. Global evidence have been found of art, music, and culture and advanced tool making. In Mithen’s 3 phase of mind proposes that the shape of the Neanderthals’ frontal lobe was similar to the one of the modern Homo sapiens and this indicated that they were able to cope with complex cognitive functioning. Evidence for this could be explained using the phonological approach by Frank Gall (1758-1828).

There has been a great deal of heated debate for the last few decades about where modern Homo sapiens originated. From the battle grounds, two main theories emerged. One theory, labeled “Out-of-Africa” or “population replacement” explains that all modern Homo sapiens evolved from a common Homo erectus ancestor in Africa 100,000 years ago. The species began to spread and replace all other archaic human-like populations around 35,000 to 89,000 years ago. The rivaling opinion, entitled the “regional continuity” theory or “multiregional evolution” model refutes this theory and states modern humans evolved from various species of Homo erectus who interbred with others that lived in

Humans have existed on Earth for approximately 3.4 million years. The oldest known human ancestor is "Lucy," an Australopithecus. Over this extensive period of time, humans have evolved significantly. Homo Sapiens have grown from 3 to almost 6 feet (average), lost most of the body hair, became leaner and adapted to walking. Humans have come a long way, from Australopithecus to Homo sapiens, from living in trees to living in cities. Slowly, through hundreds of thousands of years, we mutated over and over again, natural selection ensuring that no destructive mutations continue. From the slow evolution, four distinctive species emerged and died out, each giving way to its ' descendant: Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Sapiens Neanderthalesis, and Homo sapiens Sapiens.

The hominid also referred to as the upright man was discovered in various parts of the globe including Lake Turkana in Kenya, Spain, and Java in Indonesia among other places. They are estimated to have lived over 1.6 million years ago (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011).