Homo Erectus Definition, Where and When Do They Live, Intelligence, and Extinction – If you meet Homo erectus on the street, you may see it as something not too different from yourself. You will still see a “human” in the way it stands, its body size and shape may be similar to yours.
But their faces will be flattened, with more prominent eyebrows. And talking to them will be difficult, their language skills are poor (though they can make tools out of stones or light fires).
Of course, this is entirely a hypothesis, since Homo erectus is now extinct. These enigmatic human ancestors probably evolved in Africa more than 2 million years ago, although when they were extinct is unclear.
Homo erectus appeared widely in the news in 2018 thanks to discoveries in the Philippines and China, which have changed our understanding of our family members not far away.
Homo Erectus Definition
Homo erectus (Latin, meaning “man who stands upright”) is an extinct human species of the genus Homo. Dutch anatomist, Eugene Dubois in the 1890s described them as Pithecanthropus erectus or “Java Man” based on a fossil of the head shell and femur found by his team in Trinil, Ngawi, East Java.
Where and when do they live?
After knowing The Homo Erectus Definition, next, we will discuss Where and When Do They Live, Intelligence, and their Extinction.
Homo erectus was first found in Java, Indonesia and later in China–both of which are the well-known fossils of “Java Man” and “Peking Man”. The discovery of Eugène Dubois in 1891 in Java (originally named Pithecanthropus erectus) is an important evidence in supporting Darwinian ideas of human evolution.
The recent discovery of stone artifacts in China’s Loess Plateau suggests that a hominini, possibly Homo erectus, lived in the region 2.1 million years ago. This proved their presence in Asia at least 400,000 years ago.
Other ancient Homo erectus sites are also found in the Caucasus region of Georgia (1.8 million years ago), in Java and also in Africa.
It is thought that most homo erectus became extinct after the advent of modern humans, but some discoveries from Java date back (with some controversy) to 40,000 years ago. If this date is correct, it shows that they coexist with Homo sapiens, although it may only be in a very limited area of Indonesia.
Homo erectus exploration around the world was the first time for this hominini species go out of the African continent, and this occurred 2 million years before modern humans finally mimicked this great exploration.
They may be encouraged to spread so quickly due to the expansion of pastures in that span of the period, caused by climate change. This creates more habitat for plant-eating animals and therefore increases the number of prey available.
Homo erectus intelligence
According to the researchers, Homo erectus is smarter than other hominids.
They are the first species to use fire. Another possibility is that they are the first species to collect food and hunt.
Homo erectus makes stone tools in the form of a handheld ax. This handheld ax is known as the Acheulean.
Because it was originally only found in Java, this ancient man was considered unable to cross the water.
But the discovery in the Philippines makes it possible that Homo erectus may also have the technology to cross the sea.
Extinction of Homo erectus
It is thought that most Homo erectus were extinct when modern humans or Homo sapiens appeared.
But some say this ancient man was still alive in the early days of modern humans.
In 2018, a study revealed that Homo erectus went extinct due to their laziness taste.
Archaeologists from the Australian National University discovered it after studying thousands of fossils in the Arabian Peninsula, in 2014.
According to researchers, their food chain was cut off at 100,000 – 500,000 years ago. Chances are, they are also lazy to adapt to the environment.
These archaeologists say that Homo erectus made little effort to find food supplies or make tools.
They live near places where the rocks and water are available. But the stone is of low quality.
This is in contrast to the early Neanderthal hominids and Homo Sapiens who climbed mountains in search of rocks of good quality to make tools.
According to the researchers, their extinction was triggered by an ever-changing environment, but Homo erectus there did not develop.
Thank you very much for reading Homo Erectus Definition, Where and When Do They Live, Intelligence, and Extinction, hopefully useful.
