Homo Erectus

Homo erectus species initially evolved in Africa, probably in East Africa. Two important pieces of evidence help confirm this hypothesis. First of all the earlier hominids prior to the appearance of Homo erectus come from Africa. What's more, by 1.8 mya, there are well-dated fossils of this species at East Turkana, in Kenya, and not long after at other sites in East Africa. Still, there is a small wrinkle. Around 1.8 mya, in addition to Homo erectus in East Africa, similar populations were already living far away in both southeastern Asia and in southeastern Europe. Nevertheless, it is very likely that Homo erectus first arose in East Africa but very quickly migrated to other continents far away from their African homeland. Fossils identified as Homo erectus have been found at several locales in East Africa. The earliest Homo erectus fossils come from East Turkana, from the same area where earlier australopith and early Homo fossils have been found. Indeed, it seems likely that in East Africa around 2-1.8 mya, some form of early Homo evolved into Homo erectus. The most significant Homo erectus discovery from East Turkana is a nearly com­plete skull. Dated at 1.8 mya, this specimen is the oldest Homo erectus ever found. The cranial capacity is estimated at 848 cm', in the lower range for H. erectus (700 to 1,250 cm¹), which isn't surprising considering its early date. A second very significant new find from East Turkana is notable because it has the smallest cra­nium of any Homo erectus from anywhere in Africa.

Dated to around 1.5 mya, the skull has a cranial capacity of only 691 cm. there are a couple of crania from southeastern Europe that are even smaller. The small skull from East Turkana also shows more gracile features (such as smaller browridges) than do other East African Homo erectus individuals. It's been proposed that perhaps this new find is a female and that the variation shown indicates a very high degree of sexual dimor­phism in this species. Other important Homo erectus finds have come from Olduvai Gorge, including a very robust skull discovered there by Louis Leakey back in I960. The skull is dated at 1.4 mya and has a well-preserved cranial vault with just a small part of the upper face. Estimated at 1,067 cm', the cranial capacity of the Olduvai erectus skull is the largest of all the African Homo erectus specimens. The browridge is huge, the largest known for any hominid, but the walls of the braincase are thin. This latter charac­teristic is seen in most East African Homo erectus specimens; in this respect, they differ from Asian H. erectus, in which cranial bones are thick.

Questionnaire:

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