Homo erectus
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| Homo erectus Fossil range: Pleistocene |
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| †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) |
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† Pithecanthropus erectus |
Homo erectus (Latin: "upright man") is an extinct species of the genus Homo.[1] Fossile remains were found in Java (1890s) and in China (1921). But nearly all of them were lost during World War II. But there are casts that are considered to be reliable evidence.
Early in the 20th century it was believed that the first modern humans lived in Asia. But during the 1950s and 1970s, many fossil finds from East Africa (Kenya) showed that the oldest hominins came from there.[2]
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[change] Descendants and subspecies
Homo erectus remains one of the most successful and long-lived species of the Homo genus. It is generally considered to have given rise to a number of descendant species and subspecies. The oldest known specimen of the ancient human was found in southern Africa.
- Homo erectus:
Homo erectus yuanmouensis, Homo erectus lantianensis, Homo erectus pekinensis, Homo erectus palaeojavanicus, Homo erectus soloensis
Other species: Homo floresiensis, Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens sapiens, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo cepranensis,
[change] Individual fossils
Some of the major Homo erectus fossils:
- Indonesia (island of Java): Trinil 2 (holotype), Sangiran collection, Sambungmachan collection, Ngandong collection
- China: Lantian (Gongwangling and Chenjiawo), Yunxian, Zhoukoudian, Nanjing, Hexian
- India: Narmada (taxonomic status debated!)
- Kenya: WT 15000 (Nariokotome), ER 3883, ER 3733
- Tanzania: OH 9
- Vietnam: Northern, Tham Khuyen, Hoa Binh
- Republic of Georgia: Dmanisi collection
- Turkey: Kocabas fossil[3]
[change] References
- ↑ Dutch anatomist Eugene Dubois (1890s) first described it as Pithecanthropus erectus, based on a skullcap and a modern-looking thighbone found from the bank of the Solo River at Trinil, in Java. But thanks to Canadian anatomist Davidson Black's (1921) initial description of a lower molar, which was dubbed Sinanthropus pekinensis, most of the early and spectacular discoveries of this taxon took place at Zhoukoudian in China. German anatomist Franz Weidenreich provided much of the detailed description of this material in several monographs published in the journal Palaeontologica Sinica (Series D).
- ↑ It is now believed that H. erectus is a descendant of earlier hominins such as Australopithecus and early Homo species (e.g., H. habilis), although new findings in 2007 suggest that H. habilis and H. erectus lived at the same time and may come from a common ancestor. F. Spoor, M. G. Leakey, P. N. Gathogo, F. H. Brown, S. C. Antón, I. McDougall, C. Kiarie, F. K. Manthi & L. N. Leakey (9 August 2007). "Implications of new early Homo fossils from Ileret, east of Lake Turkana, Kenya". Nature (448): 688-691. DOI:10.1038/nature05986.
- ↑ J. Kappelman et al.. "First Homo erectus from Turkey and implications for migrations into temperate Eurasia". American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135 (1): 110-116. DOI:10.1002/ajpa.20739.
