Homo Erectus

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Homo Erectus
(Homo Erectus Telemarketus)
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Who is Homo erectus and what makes this primate
unique?

• Homo erectus was the first hominid species to be
  found in different places around the world
• Recent re-dating of Homo erectus has suggested
  that Homo erectus in Java was there 1.8 million
  years ago
• The Homo erectus skull was long, low and thickly
  walled with a prominent brow.
• Homo erectus also had a prominent projecting nose
  in addition to thrusting upper and lower jaws.

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When were homo erectus fossils discovered?

• In 1891 a Dutch man Eugene Dubois was digging in
  Java and found erect ape man
• Dubois found a cranium and a thigh-bone, the
  fragments were considered for a long time part
  for two separate animals
• G.H. R von Koenigswalds find in the 1930s in
  Java confirmed Dubois theory and extended our
  knowledge of H. Erectus.

Dubois (1850- 1940)
G. H. R. von Koenigswald (1902- 1982)
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The Physical Characteristics of Homo Erectus

• Homo Erectus was the first hominid to have third
  molars that were smaller than the second or first
  molars, as in modern humans.
• However, the molars also had an enlarged pulp
  cavity, called taurodontism, which may have
  allowed teeth to withstand harder use and wear
  than modern human teeth.

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Evolution of Homo Erectus
In the Early Pleistocene, 1.51 MYA, in Africa,
Asia, and Europe, presumably, Homo habilis
evolved larger brains and made more elaborate
stone tools these differences and others are
sufficient for anthropologists to classify them
as a new species, H. erectus. In addition H.
erectus was the first human ancestor to walk
truly upright. This was made possible by the
evolution of locking knees and a different
location of the foramen magnum (the hole in the
skull where the spine enters). They may have used
fire to cook their meat. A famous example of Homo
erectus is Peking Man others were found in Asia
(notably in Indonesia), Africa, and Europe.
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Progression of the Species
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Research Frontiers Homo Erectus, One or More
Species?
Many paleoanthropologists are now using the term
Homo ergaster for the non-Asian forms of this
group, and reserving H. erectus only for those
fossils found in the Asian region and meeting
certain skeletal and dental requirements which
differ slightly from ergaster.