Before Homo sapiens roamed the earth, flora, fauna, and the species known as Homo erectus, all coexisted. Homo erectus populated Africa, thriving amongst predators, the changing environment, and evolving characteristics of their species. However, certain environmental conditions that were impacting H. erectus, at the time, led to their departure from Africa to Eurasia, where they paved the way for future species and the colonization of the world. This journey of Homo erectus out of Africa and into other parts of the world did not occur in one instance, but eventually they spread all over Asia. Evidence of their life in Asia has been documented through the discovery of archaeological sites, and excavation processes that unearthed fossils of
…show more content…
Out of all the species to live in Africa through millions and billions of years, this was the first to leave Africa. Their expedition into a new world was one that changed history, as it marked the beginning of travel into all over Eurasia, and made way for future species to come. The commencement of their journey was not just a thought to leave, but rather made up of different factors. To start, according to the article Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa, Homo erectus’ lifestyle changes are categorized into two possible candidates: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic in this context relates to the population growth of H. erectus, while the extrinsic viewpoint in this matter connects to climatic change and ecological interactions. Additionally, neither are considered predominant in the effort to determine whether they coincided with the action of dispersal. (Carotenuto et al. 2016: 1). However, I believe Homo erectus’ ability to disperse out of Africa is based on their extrinsic interactions, or the climatic change and ecological interactions. Homo erectus leaving Africa aligns more so with ecological factors, and their dispersal, than other ideas such as Acheulean technology. The use of stone technology is proved to be unrelated due to the earliest Homo erectus site founded outside Africa dated at 1.8 Ma, which is before tool …show more content…
In the case of Homo erectus, life was never easy. Within Sundaland, the “H. erectus inhabitants became environmental refugees over and over again, during the Pleistocene as they were forced into highlands where open vegetation communities were not as abundant” (E. Arthur Bettis, III et al. 2009: 12). These effects of the environment kept Homo erectus constantly on the move, to find somewhere to live. This movement from one area to another supports the claim of the extrinsic environmental impacts that affected Homo erectus life and forced them to migrate. These changes in climate, which is consistent with their movement, also made them to adapt to their surroundings. This was not just an aspect of survival, but an opportunity to colonize into other parts of Asia. For instance, “the change in vegetation shows an increasing trend of drying and cooling in the Beijing plain during the Middle Pleistocene. This coincides with Homo erectus colonization of North China” (Cai et al. 2015: 6). More so, this decline in vegetation is consistent with climate and environmental patterns in other regions of North China which were probably influenced by global cooling during the Middle Pleistocene (Cai et al. 2015: 6). Climatic changes occurred more and more, causing H. erectus to migrate to other places that were suitable to their life. The drying and cooling in the Beijing plain and global cooling in general affected their ability
Out of all the species to live in Africa through millions and billions of years, this was the first to leave Africa. Their expedition into a new world was one that changed history, as it marked the beginning of travel into all over Eurasia, and made way for future species to come. The commencement of their journey was not just a thought to leave, but rather made up of different factors. To start, according to the article Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa, Homo erectus’ lifestyle changes are categorized into two possible candidates: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic in this context relates to the population growth of H. erectus, while the extrinsic viewpoint in this matter connects to climatic change and ecological interactions. Additionally, neither are considered predominant in the effort to determine whether they coincided with the action of dispersal. (Carotenuto et al. 2016: 1). However, I believe Homo erectus’ ability to disperse out of Africa is based on their extrinsic interactions, or the climatic change and ecological interactions. Homo erectus leaving Africa aligns more so with ecological factors, and their dispersal, than other ideas such as Acheulean technology. The use of stone technology is proved to be unrelated due to the earliest Homo erectus site founded outside Africa dated at 1.8 Ma, which is before tool …show more content…
In the case of Homo erectus, life was never easy. Within Sundaland, the “H. erectus inhabitants became environmental refugees over and over again, during the Pleistocene as they were forced into highlands where open vegetation communities were not as abundant” (E. Arthur Bettis, III et al. 2009: 12). These effects of the environment kept Homo erectus constantly on the move, to find somewhere to live. This movement from one area to another supports the claim of the extrinsic environmental impacts that affected Homo erectus life and forced them to migrate. These changes in climate, which is consistent with their movement, also made them to adapt to their surroundings. This was not just an aspect of survival, but an opportunity to colonize into other parts of Asia. For instance, “the change in vegetation shows an increasing trend of drying and cooling in the Beijing plain during the Middle Pleistocene. This coincides with Homo erectus colonization of North China” (Cai et al. 2015: 6). More so, this decline in vegetation is consistent with climate and environmental patterns in other regions of North China which were probably influenced by global cooling during the Middle Pleistocene (Cai et al. 2015: 6). Climatic changes occurred more and more, causing H. erectus to migrate to other places that were suitable to their life. The drying and cooling in the Beijing plain and global cooling in general affected their ability