Early Homo species {Homo erectus} was 1.65 meters tall.
evolution
Homo erectus came from Homo habilis and was ancestor of Homo floresiensis and archaic Homo sapiens.
anatomy: body
Homo erectus had narrow bowl-shaped pelvis and conical thorax. Homo sapiens has barrel shaped thorax.
anatomy: head
Homo erectus had heavy eyebrows, no chins, big jaws, and low skulls. Extra bone was on skull midline {sagittal keel}.
anatomy: senses
Homo erectus had sense organs like modern humans. Skull indents behind eyes, so eye sockets protrude.
anatomy: brain
Brains were 1000 cc, two-thirds of modern brains, with six-layer brain cortex, specialized right and left brain hemispheres, and association areas. Encephalization quotient was 5.5.
anatomy: teeth
Perhaps, Homo erectus gripped and tore using front teeth by prognathism.
anatomy: hand
Homo erectus held fingers to palm and had precision grips.
anatomy: arm
Homo erectus had large femoral heads like Homo sapiens.
anatomy: leg
Arched feet allowed better running and jumping, better balance, and more flexible movements. Arched feet had no grasping.
anatomy: sexual dimorphism
Male and female body sizes were more equal than in Homo habilis.
walking
Homo erectus walked fully erect.
reproduction
Homo erectus had sexual intercourse but no longer had estrus, so females were always sexually ready.
development
Babies were immature at birth, like Homo sapiens.
culture
Homo erectus had Acheulean culture of Lower Paleolithic. Groups with social organization lived in caves or later wood or bone houses and had territories. Homo erectus had birth rituals, long childhood with rites of passage to adulthood, and courtship rituals.
culture: communication
Homo erectus signaled and used simple speech. It planned for events far away in space and time. It realized world of individual things and people existed.
culture: fire
Starting 200,000 years ago, Homo erectus used fire for warming, lighting, scaring animals out of caves, hunting, hardening wood, cooking plants, cooking bones for marrow, and building community. It had specialized fire builders.
culture: tools
Homo erectus used flaked stone tools, chipped hand axes from large stone cores [-1500000], and had stone symmetrical hand axes with two sides [-750000]. Homo erectus carved wooden spears and wooden bowls.
culture: hunting
Homo erectus killed large animals, coordinated hunts, and gathered foods. Savanna had enough food to support two people per square mile. Hunting societies had one leader. Males were hunters and dominated life. Male friendship developed. Females did domestic work. Perhaps, aquatic societies lived on fish and shellfish, shared among all, had no leader, and lived near oceans or fresh water.
Biological Sciences>Zoology>Kinds>Hominin
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Date Modified: 2022.0224