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Development Team Paper No. : 01 Physical/Biological Anthropology Module : 18 Homo erectus Development Team Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Principal Investigator Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Paper Coordinator Prof. Subho Roy Department of Anthropology ,University of Calcutta Dr. Arpita Mandal (Nandi) Content Writer Department of Anthropology, Narsinha Dutt College, Howrah Content Reviewer Prof. Barun Mukhopadhyay Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata 1 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Description Of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name 01 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Module Name/Title Homo erectus Module Id 18 2 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Contents of this unit About Homo erectus Variations and their Distribution Time Period Anatomical Features Cultural Remains Other Aspects of Culture Dispersal of Homo erectus Ascribed the Status of Being the First Behavioral Inferences Phylogenetic / Evolutionary Relationships Theories of Change Learning Objectives Who is Homo erectus? Distributions Important Position in Human Evolution 3 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Homo erectus Source: Photobucket.com Introduction The first fossil was found from Java in 1891 by the Dutch anatomist, Eugene Dubois. The exact locale was Trinil river bed in central java, and its common name assigned is “Java man”. The materials found were: a skull cap, a complete femur, three teeth, and a jaw fragment. This specimen was formerly referred to as “Pithecanthropus erectus” meaning an apeman who could walk straight. The femur found among the other materials showed prominent linea aspera, a criterion for erect posture and bipedalism while the skull cap denoted brain volume as that of present day apes. The dating of this fossil is middle pleistocene about 500,000 years ago. Original fossils of pithecanthropus erectus (now homo erectus) found in java in 1891. Source: Wikipedia Later, in 1929 a Chinese paleontologist, W.C. Pei, discovered a dozen incomplete but identifiable skulls, mandibles, 147 teeth, and some fragments of the post-cranial skeleton. These also dated to middle pleistocene about 300,000 years ago. The exact locale was Zhoukoudian, some 30 miles southwest of Peking, China, which is why we assign the common name as “Peking man”. Its original name was “Sinanthropus pekinensis” meaning apeman from China. 4 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus It was later analyzed that the anatomical differences between these two fossil finds lie at the sub- specific level. So, both the finds were placed under the same genus and species and are thus now known as: Homo erectus erectus and Homo erectus pekinensis respectively. This reclassification proved to be the most significant development on two counts: 1. It reflected the incorporation of modern evolutionary thinking into hominid paleontology. 2. The simplification in terminology, as it was based on sound biological principles, refocused research away from endless arguments regarding classification to broader populational, behavioural and ecological considerations. Several fossils that can be attributed to Homo erectus were later found from several sites of Europe and Africa. Here are some of the sites mentioned restricting to the most important and the best preserved specimens: 1. Java 2. Zhoukoudian 3. Lantien (China) 4. Heidelberg 5. Vertesszollos (Hungary) 6. Arago (France) 7. Ternifine (Algeria) 8. Rabat (Morocco) 9. Koobi Fora (Kenya) 10. Olduvai gorge 11. Swartkrans 12. Saldanha Source:- http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo/homo_2.htm 5 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Date of fossil Cranial capacity (years ago) (in cm.3) Africa: East turkana 1,900,000-1,600,000 850-900 West turkana 1,500,000 Olduvai gorge 1,300,000-700,000 1067 Bouri 1,000,000 Swartkrans 1,800,000-1,500,000 Ternifine 700,000-500,000 Sale 400,000 900 Israel: Ubeidiya 1,600,000-1,400,000 Europe: Dmanisi 1,750,000 600-650 Atapuerca 1,200,000 - Java: Modjokerto 1,800,000 ---- Sangiran 1,800,000-1,600,000 813-1059 Trinil 900,000 ? ---- Ngandong 546,000-143,000 ? China: Yuanmou 1,700,000 ? Lantian 800,000 780 Zhoukoudian 770,000-400,000 850-1250 Hexian 400,000 1025 6 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Dating the fossils To reconstruct the position of H. erectus in hominin evolution, it is essential to define the place of this species in time, and modern paleoanthropologists have at their disposal a variety of techniques that permit them to do so with great precision. Potassium-argon dating, for instance, can provide the age of a specimen by clocking the rate at which radioactive isotopes of these elements have decayed. When radiometric methods cannot be applied, investigators may still ascribe a relative age to a fossil by relating it to the other contents of the deposit in which it was found. Such lines of evidence have led to the tentative conclusion that H. Erectus flourished over a long interval of pleistocene time. The fossils recovered at Koobi Fora are from about 1.7 mya, and OH 9 from Olduvai are probably 1.2 million years old. The specimens from Sangiran and Mojokerto in Java may approach the age of the Koobi Fora skeletons, and one from the Lantian localities in China is roughly contemporary with OH 9. The youngest hominins generally accepted as H. erectus are from Tighenif in Algeria (800–600 kya), Zhoukoudian in China (770–230 kya), and Sambungmacan and Ngandong (Solo) in Java (perhaps less than 250 kya). Fossils older than 1.7 million years are the remains of H. habilis and H. rudolfensis. These species are also known to be found from Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora in Africa, the oldest specimens being about 2.0 to 1.8 million years in age. On the other hand, there is a group of later specimens that show some features of H. erectus but are commonly regarded either as “archaic” representatives of Homo sapiens or as belonging to H. heidelbergensis; these include specimens from Europe (Mauer, Arago, Bilzingsleben, and petralona), northwestern Africa (Rabat and perhaps Salé and sīdī ʿabd al-raḥmān), eastern and southern Africa (Kabwe, Elandsfontein, Ndutu, Omo, and Bodo), and Asia (the Dali find of 1978). Anatomy of Homo erectus: The cranial capacity of H. erectus averages about 1000 cc and generally ranges between 750 and 1250 cc. The size of the brain case of most of the specimens falls within the lower range of variation of modern Homo sapiens. The cranial bones are thick with thick brow ridges which are continuous forming a distinct supra orbital torus. There is a pronounced postorbital constriction. The skull is low and relatively flat, or platycephalic and in some specimens especially, in Java man, there is a bony ridge, the sagittal keel found along the midline at the top of the brain case. The profile of the cranium as seen from the side clearly shows: The angularity of the occipital, above this is a horizontal bar of bone, the occipital torus. 7 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus The greatest width of the skull is towards the bottom. The facial skeleton is comparatively large and broad as compared to that of modern H. sapiens. The face, which is preserved in only a few specimens, is massively constructed, and its lower parts project forward. The bone forming the wall of the nose is thinner and the nasal bridge is relatively high and prominent. The teeth of H. erectus are smaller than the Australopithecus but larger than the H. sapiens. It is in accordance to the characteristics of the genus homo where teeth get reduced in size and number with time. The dental arcade is diverging with the greatest width occurring between the third molars. The mandible lacks chin, but does not have a mandibular torus. Externally the erectus femur resembles that of the sapiens but x-rays reveal that the outer wall of the shaft of erectus femur is twice as thick as that of the sapien’s femur. The presence of prominent linea aspera on the posterior side of the femur strongly suggests erect posture and bipedal locomotion for the H. erectus. Peking man calotte 8 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus Turkana boy Cultural remains: More than 100,000 artifacts have been recovered from the Zhoukoudian sites that were occupied intermittently for almost 250,000 years. According to Wu and Lin, 1983, it is one of the sites with the longest history of habitation by man or his ancestors. The occupation of the site has been divided into three cultural stages: Earliest stage (460,000-420,000 years ago) the tools are large, close to a pound in weight and made of soft stone such as sandstone. Middle stage (370,000-350,000 years ago) tools become smaller and lighter (under a pound) and these smaller tools comprise approximately two-thirds of the sample. Final stage (300,000-230,000 years ago) tools are still small, and the tool materials are of better quality. The coarse quartz of the earlier periods is replaced by finer quartz, sandstone tools have almost disappeared and flint tools increase in frequency by as much as 30 percent. Expansion of the brain presumably enabled H. erectus to develop a more sophisticated tool kit than seen among earlier hominids. The important change in this tool kit was a core worked on both sides called bifaces (known widely as handaxe or cleaver). The biface had a flatter core than the roundish earlier Oldowan pebble tool. And probably even more important, this core tool was obviously a target design that is, the main goal of the tool maker. This greater focus and increased control enabled the 9 Physical/ Biological Anthropology Anthropology Homo erectus stoneknapper to produce straighter edges resulting in a more efficient implement. This acheulian stone tool became standardized as the basic homo erectus all-purpose tool for more than a million years.
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