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Homo erectus
| Homo erectus | |
|---|---|
_presented_at_Paleozoological_Museum_of_China.jpg)
| |
| Replica of the skull of Peking Man at the Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | Hominini |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | †H. erectus
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1893)
| |
| Synonyms | |
Homo erectus (/ˌhoʊmoʊ əˈrɛktəs/ lit. 'upright man') is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago.[2] Its specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo.
Several human species, such as H. heidelbergensis and H. antecessor, appear to have evolved from H. erectus, and Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans are in turn generally considered to have evolved from H. heidelbergensis.[3] H. erectus was the first human ancestor to spread throughout Eurasia, with a continental range extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Java. Asian populations of H. erectus may be ancestral to H. floresiensis[4] and possibly to H. luzonensis.[5] The last known population of H. erectus is H. e. soloensis from Java, around 117,000–108,000 years ago.[1]
H. erectus had a more modern gait and body proportions, and was the first human species to have exhibited a flat face, prominent nose, and possibly sparse body hair coverage. Though the species' brain size certainly exceeds that of ancestor species, capacity varied widely depending on the population. In earlier populations, brain development seemed to cease early in childhood, suggesting that offspring matured faster, thus limiting cognitive development. H. erectus was an apex predator;[6] sites generally show consumption of medium to large animals, such as bovines or elephants, and suggest the development of predatory behavior and coordinated hunting. H. erectus is associated with the Acheulean stone tool industry, and is postulated to have been the earliest human ancestor capable of using fire,[7] hunting and gathering in coordinated groups, caring for injured or sick group members, and possibly seafaring and art (though examples of art are controversial, and are otherwise rudimentary and few and far between). Intentional seafaring has also been a controversial claim.[8]
H. erectus males and females may have been roughly the same size as each other (i.e. exhibited reduced sexual dimorphism), which could indicate monogamy in line with general trends exhibited in primates. Size, nonetheless, ranged widely from 146–185 cm (4 ft 9 in – 6 ft 1 in) in height and 40–68 kg (88–150 lb) in weight. It is unclear if H. erectus was anatomically capable of speech, though it is postulated they communicated using some proto-language.
- ^ a b Rizal Y, Westaway KE, Zaim Y, van den Bergh GD, Bettis EA, Morwood MJ, et al. (January 2020). "Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000-108,000 years ago". Nature. 577 (7790): 381–385. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1863-2. PMID 31853068. S2CID 209410644.
- ^ Herries AI, Martin JM, Leece AB, Adams JW, Boschian G, Joannes-Boyau R, et al. (April 2020). "Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa". Science. 368 (6486): eaaw7293. doi:10.1126/science.aaw7293. PMID 32241925.
- ^ Dembo M, Radovčić D, Garvin HM, Laird MF, Schroeder L, Scott JE, et al. (August 2016). "The evolutionary relationships and age of Homo naledi: An assessment using dated Bayesian phylogenetic methods". Journal of Human Evolution. 97: 17–26. Bibcode:2016JHumE..97...17D. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.04.008. hdl:2164/8796. PMID 27457542.
- ^ van den Bergh GD, Kaifu Y, Kurniawan I, Kono RT, Brumm A, Setiyabudi E, et al. (June 2016). "Homo floresiensis-like fossils from the early Middle Pleistocene of Flores". Nature. 534 (7606): 245–248. Bibcode:2016Natur.534..245V. doi:10.1038/nature17999. PMID 27279221. S2CID 205249218.
- ^ Détroit F, Mijares AS, Corny J, Daver G, Zanolli C, Dizon E, et al. (April 2019). "A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines" (PDF). Nature. 568 (7751): 181–186. Bibcode:2019Natur.568..181D. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9. PMID 30971845. S2CID 106411053.
- ^ Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R (August 2021). "The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 175 (Suppl 72): 27–56. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24247. PMID 33675083.
- ^ Zohar, Irit; Alperson-Afil, Nira; Goren-Inbar, Naama; Prévost, Marion; Tütken, Thomas; Sisma-Ventura, Guy; Hershkovitz, Israel; Najorka, Jens (14 November 2022). "Evidence for the cooking of fish 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 6 (12): 2016–2028. Bibcode:2022NatEE...6.2016Z. doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01910-z. ISSN 2397-334X. PMID 36376603. S2CID 253522354.
- ^ Botha, Rudolf (16 April 2024). "Did Homo erectus Have Language? The Seafaring Inference". Cambridge Archaeological Journal: 1–17. doi:10.1017/S0959774324000118. ISSN 0959-7743.
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