Homo+erectus

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ** When did the Homo erectus live on Earth? ** Hominids with the physical characteristics of the Homo erectus began to show up around 1.6-1.8 million years ago. This timing places Homo erectus between Homo habilis and the earliest appearances of Homo sapiens. **Where Homo erectus fossils were found and what the conditions of the environment were: ** Homo erectus was first discovered in the 1890's by Eugene Dubois, a physical anthropologist and Dutch physician. The largest portion of // Homo erectus // fossils were discovered in a cave site, Zhoukoudian, which is located near Beijing, China. However, the richest source of fossils has been located in the Lake Turkana region of northern Kenya, both on the east and west sides. Some of the Homo erectus lived in huts built near natural caves that open on hillsides which provided them with shelter in bad weather. They choose a place that is high above the ground so that they are able to observe the movements of the herds of large mammals and to also try and set up near a stream to collect drinking water. The Homo erectus always lived near a vast supply of flint, wood, wild and edible vegetation. A number of characteristics of the Homo erectus are more similar to the Homo Sapien rather than the Homo habilis. ·  From evidence, scientists have calculated that the Homo erectus body size would have reached close to 1.8 metres for males and 1.55 metres for females. ·  The cranium (part of skull) is long and low and slightly flattened at the front, it is also a lot thicker compared to earlier hominids. ·  The face is short and wide and the nose is projected forward, This is suggested as the first appearance of the typical human external nose with the nostril facing downward. ·  The Homo erectus had very distinctive brow ridges. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> The Homo erectus had a quite low sloping forehead. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The opposable thumb is usually associated with the evolution of Homo habilis, and from there was adapted as a Homo erectus physical characteristics. This physical adaption allowed the Homo erectus to refine its grip to hold objects and led to the development of tools. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Some Asian erectus skulls have a sagittal KEEL (not Sagittal CREST). <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> The foramen magnum is the large opening at the base of the cranium through which the spinal cord passes. This means that the foramen magnum on the Homo erectus was situated at the base of the cranium. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> //<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Homo erectus //<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> was the first human ancestor to walk truly upright. This was made possible by the evolution of locking knees and a different location of the foramen magnum. It is very hard to judge if Homo erectus would have verbally communicated. There is evidence from fossils found in Africa that the Larynx was apparently situated deep in the throat giving them a wider vocal range than other primates. //Homo erectus// teeth were generally intermediate between modern humans and the australopithecines in shape and size. The shape of the dental arcade of the Homo erectus was parabolic. The teeth of the Homo erectus show that they ate softer foods, including more meat and eventually cooked food. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They ate fairly fibrous fruits, nuts and veg, with scavenged meat as a side dish, things like snails, left over kills from bigger animals, termites etc… <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Homo erectus exhibited the first appearance of systematic hunting. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They developed more complex tools to defend themselves against larger predators which no other hominid had done before hand. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They travelled and lived in groups <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They tried to control and use fire to their advantage. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">· <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The brain size was approximately 900cc that was less than the Homo sapiens 1350cc
 * What do they look like? **
 * Communication **
 * Homo erectus teeth and what they ate:**
 * Interesting Facts: **

Anissimov, Michael. 2009. What was homo erectus like? [ Online].Available __internet:__ <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-homo-erectus-like.htm> ( Accessed on the 16th of February, 2009) <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Boone, Jerry. Homo erectus. [Online]. Available __internet:__ <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><.http://www.allexplore.com/id619.htm> (A ccessed on the 14th of February, 2009) Example Essay’s. [Online]. Revised 2002-2009. Available __Internet__: <http://www.exampleessays.com/> (Accessed 14 Feb. 2009). Finsen, lars .2000. Communication. [Online]. Available __internet:__ <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><http://home.ringnett.no/lars.finsen/language.htm> (A ccessed on the 16th of February, 2009) <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Homo erectus. [Online]. Available __internet:__ <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><http://www.stanford.edu/~harryg/protected/chp22.htm> (Accessed on the 15th of February, 2009) Homo erectus. [Online]. Revised 2001. Available __Internet__: <http://www.geocities.com/palaeoanthropology/Herectus.html> (Accessed 13 Feb. 2009). <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Largaespada, Leah. Homo erectus. [Online]. Available __internet:__ <http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/8932/erectus.html> (Accessed on the 16th of February, 2009) O’Neil, Dennis. Homo erectus. [Online]. Available __Internet__: <http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo/homo_2.htm> (Accessed 14 Feb. 2009). ||
 * Bibliography

By Hannah.C and Stephanie.G