Homo ergaster, meaning ‘workman’, lived in eastern and southern Africa around 1.5 million years ago. The ergaster had a good run for about 500,000 years, until vanishing from fossil records 1.3 million years ago. Homo ergaster was discovered in 1949 somewhere in southern Africa by prominent South African hominin paleontologist, John T. Robinson. Researchers have argued back and forth on the the idea that Home ergaster is a valid taxon due to the similarities between ergaster and erectus. Some differences that distinguish ergaster from erectus is: Greater development of the mandibular symphysis, broader nasal bones and nasal opening, Home ergaster is considered to be the first hominid to use a proto-human language due to the presence of the the cervical vertebrae and markings of the digastric muscle located in the mandibular symphysis. However, the cervical vertebrae reveal that the spinal cord was thinner than in modern humans. This may indicate that this species had limited speech capacity due to the lack of nerves needed for the complex control of breathing while speaking.Even if ergaster never formed a form of verbal language, the well developed brain could have allowed symbolic communication.…
The hominin evolution theory is the idea of Homo sapiens sapiens (AMHs) evolved from a lineage of hominins in Africa. The purpose of the project is to determine the genus and species of seven skulls discovered by Dr. Musoma in Africa, Europe and Asia, approximate the age of each skull, interpret the evolutionary pathway of each species, and provide evidence for and against the “Out of Africa” theory. The purpose of the project with be completed and evidence on the “Out of Africa” theory will be…
The Homo erectus was believed to have lived about 1.89 million years ago in North, South, and East Africa; western and east Asia. They possessed a human like body with the ability to stand upright with its elongated legs, shorter arms compared to the torso and a slightly larger braincase relative to the size of the face. With these discoveries in the fossilized anatomy it seems that these features are adaptations for a life lived on the ground. They had the ability to walk and possibly run long…
expansion throughout most of Africa occurred with Australopithecines, Paranthropus, and early Homo habilis. Each species was advancing, and adapting to their various habitats. However, a new homo was entering the playing field, which was not only biologically modern but was capable of creating tools. This new species is known as Homo ergaster/erectus, and they were on the verge of breaking out into new territory. This group would soon leave the cradle of Africa and traverse to Asia, and…
they had emerged in the areas of eastern Africa, specifically in the regions of Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia. This species, however, were not apes but rather a creature in the Hominidae family, that had human like features. “They would seem short, hairy, and limited with intelligence. They stood something over one meter tall, weighed 25 to 55 kilograms, and had a brain size of about 500 cubic meters” (Bentley and Ziegler, 2003,p.7). However, they were smart enough to make tools and travel to…
1.6 million years ago. He is a near complete skeleton of a Homo erectus, an ancient predecessor of the modern human species. This discovery in Kenya revealed never-seen-before pieces of an Homo erectus: the first clavicle, the first lumbar vertebra, and the first thoracic vertebra of a Homo erectus. Turkana Boy's skeleton has allowed researchers to discover a great deal of data about body size, body shape, and development rates of the Homo erectus. It also let us know more about the mental…
As mentioned above, the two skulls were compared are Proconsul Africanus (an ape skull) and Gracile Australopithecine (a hominid skull). Proconsul Africanus was from Kenya and lived 23.8-5.3 million years ago. However, Gracile Australopithecine was from Ethiopia and lived 5.3-1.8 million years ago. Based on observation the tooth size is different especially in terms of the canine teeth. The ape skull has large canine teeth whereas the hominid skull has small ones. The brain size of the hominid…
Homo Erectus were early humans that are ancestors to humans. Homo Erectus lived in places like Northern, SOuthern, and Eastern Africa. That is not the only place they lived in, Homo Erectus also lived in places like Java, Europe, and Asia. Scientists believe that they started of in Africa, since that is were Homo Habilis lived before. Eventually over time they started possessing more land such as Java, Europe, and Asia. According to studies, they lived there around 2 million years ago. Homo…
The article I found is on the discovery of Homo naledi. Happened upon only by chance, the struggle to find Homo naledi was as hard as placing it with either Australopithecus or Homo. I found this article interesting because the discovery of a potentially new species could give us a clearer picture of our ancestors. We may never know the complete story, but as long as we keep on researching and exploring new ideas, our understanding will grow. In addition to adding to our understanding of…
Homo sapiens, or our modern people, are the only living species in homo genus these days. However, as we all known, before a long time like 100,000 years ago, the primitive society indeed existed some species which belong to our genus Homo. All of them have disappeared and extinct for a long time, those are Hominins that we called. In 2015, Berger et al reported a discovery named the Homo naledi, they found at least 15 individuals and multiple examples to do their research (Berger et al, 2015;…