The Human Past - Chapter 3

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Homo ergaster

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1.8mya - 600,000 years old. Found in Eastern and Southern Africa, possible into Europe. Brain size 600-910cc. Associated with Oldowan industries and early Acheulean.

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Homo erectus

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1mya - 500,000 years old. Found throughout Asia, Brain size 810-1250cc. Associated with Oldowna and Acheulan industries. First major migration out of Africa.

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Homo heidelbergensis

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600,000 - 400,000 years old. Found in Africa and Europe. Brain size 1225-1300cc. Associated with Acheulean. Possibly direct ancestor for both H.neanderthalensis and H. sapiens

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Homo neanderthalensis

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400,000 - 30,000 years old. Found in Europe and Southwest Asia. Brain size 1125-1550cc. Classical Neanderthals associated with Mousterian tool industries

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Homo antecessor

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800,000 years old. Found at Atapuerca, Spain. Brain size 1000cc. Possibly an offshoot of H. eraster migration, driven by return to glacial environment.

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Pithecanthropus eructus

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Original designation of javanese Homo erectus by Eugene Dubois in 1894.

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Sinanthropus pekinensis

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Original designation of Chinese Homo erectus by Davidson Black in 1927.

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Turkana Boy

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1.56mya near-complete skeleton of H. ergaster from West Turkana, evidence of significant shift towards a modern human body size and form from previous hominin species.

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Olduvai hominid 9

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Partial skull dated to 1.2-1.1mya, marked with both H. ergaster and H. erectus traits

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Buia and Daka skulls

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Two skulls both from East Africa and dated to about 1mya. Considered evidence of anatomical continuity within H. ergaster.

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Eugene Dubois

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(1858-1941) Discovered early human remains at Trind, Indonesia in 1891 and identified them as Pithecanthropus erectus, later to become Homo erectus

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G. H. R. von Koenigswald

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(1902-1982) Discovered H. erectus remains at Sangiran in early 20th Century, supporting discoveries of Eugene Dubois.

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J.G. Anderson

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(1874-1960) Excavated cave site of Zhoukoudian, a major H. erectus site, including artefacts and human remains.

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Davidson Black

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(1884-1933) Designated Zhoukoudian hominins as new species Sinanthropus pekinesis on the recovery of two teeth.

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Franz Weidenreich

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(1873-1948) Part of the Zhoukoudian excavations, suggested the Chinese Sinathropus and Javan Pithecanthropus part of the same species H. erectus.

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Hallam L. Movius

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(1907-1987) Identified a line across India and Central Asia which divided the Acheulean hand axe tradition(1.7mya-400,000 years ado) from East Asian chopper-chopping traditions.

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Marek Kohn

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with Steve Mithen, proposed the Male Selection Hypothesis to explain the longevity and sometime non-functional appearance of Acheulean tradition hand axes

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Steve Mithen

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with Marek Kohn, proposed the Male Selection Hypothesis to explain the longevity and sometime non-functional appearance of Acheulean tradition hand axes

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Potassium-Argon (dating)

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Method of absolute dating volcanic layers and rocks older than 100,000 years by measuring the radioactive decay of potassium-40. One of the most widely used methods for dating early hominid sites in Africa.

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Paleomagnetism

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Method of dating based on correlating the magnetic direction of trapped iron particles to known variations in the earth's magnetic direction, also known as archaeomagnetic dating.

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Biostratigraphy

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Dating method using the spatial and temporal distribution of species to establish geochronological dates for the first and last appearance of species and extinction events.

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Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)

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Dating method that measures trapped electrons in bone and shell, the number of such electrons indicating the age of the specimen.

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Climate dating

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Broad scale methods of dating based on fluctuations within the earth's climate between glacial and interglacial periods.

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Sediment accumulation rate

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Dating method which utilises stratigraphy to determine a relative chronology based on the gradual or episodic deposition of sediment.

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Uranium-Series

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Dating method measuring on the radioactive decay of isotopes of uranium.

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Acheulean cultural tradition

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1.65mya - 250,000 years ago. Widespread stone tool industry marked by bifacial flaking. Tools includes tear-drop shaped hand axes, cleavers andsharp-edged flakes.

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Movius line

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Geographical dividing line between the hand-axe, or Acheulean, stone tool tradition of Africa, Western Asia and Europe, and the chopper-chopping tool complexes of eastern and southeastern Asia

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Population Budding

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Mechanism of colonisation in which groups along the periphery of a species range outgrow their resources, causing the group to splinter, and the new group establishes itself in the adjacent empty territory.

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Levallois Eechnique

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Method of stone flaking associated with Mousterian in which the core pebble was shaped in advance so that it would provide a flake of predetermined shape and size.