My Understanding of Religion
Page 13
Some scientists believe Homo erectus was the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens and the first hominid to leave Africa.
However, the oldest hominid fossils to be found in Europe are not those of Homo erectus. The fossils date to about 1.7 million years ago and were discovered at Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. Their age and skeletal characteristics suggest they could be related to a less developed hominid who lived in East Africa at about the same time and who has been named Homo ergaster. Homo ergaster employed a less sophisticated stone tool technology than Homo erectus. Tools found with the Dmanisi remains belong to a 'pebble-chopper' tradition that preceded the Acheulean or 'hand-axe' technology of Homo erectus. The earliest members of the Homo erectus family appear in Africa about 1.8 million years ago and in Asia about 1.7 million years ago. It is not known where or how Homo erectus evolved into Homo sapiens. The cranium of Homo erectus is different to that of Homo sapiens. Homo erectus had a low brain case, a jutting brow ridge, a flattened forehead, and the area of neck-muscle attachment at the back of the head was much larger than in Homo sapiens, and the teeth of Homo erectus were larger than those of Homo sapiens. A number of scientists assert that these traits show Homo erectus could not have been an ancestor to Homo sapiens. Regardless of this, prevailing opinion assumes Homo erectus existed and evolved into Homo sapiens in Asia, south-east Asia, and elsewhere for over a million years but were not involved in any significant influx into Europe during that time.
The next oldest hominid remains found in Europe date to about 800 000 years ago and were discovered at Gran Dolina (an area of Atapuerca) in Spain. The find, a lone tibia, has been called Homo antecessor. Researchers claim Homo antecessor was the last common ancestor between modern humans and Neanderthals. Homo antecessor's tibia (the inner of the two bones extending from the knee to the ankle) was found amongst tools from the later stages of the lower Palaeolithic hand-axe tradition known as Acheulean - the lower Palaeolithic ended about 120 000 years ago; Acheulean hand-axe industries are dated to between 1.5 million and 150 000 years ago. Atapuerca was the scene, in 1976, of an incredible hominid fossil discovery. These remains make up nearly 70 percent of the post cranial remains from the Middle Pleistocene - the Pleistocene lasted from about 1.6 million to about 10 000 years ago and contained several ice ages. Excavators unearthed over 700 hominid bones that date to about 300 000 years ago. Every bone in the human skeleton was found at the site: Pit of Bones (Sima de los Huesos). The 'Pit of Bones' hominid received the designation Homo heidelbergensis. Evidence of Homo heidelbergensis was first discovered in 1907 in the great sand pit at Mauer (south-east of Heidelberg) in Germany. It is thought that Homo heidelbergensis was more like modern humans than any other species that had gone before. Some researchers assert Homo heidelbergensis was the last common ancestor between modern humans and Neanderthals. The 'Pit of Bones' fossils display traits that foreshadow European Neanderthal characteristics.
Understanding of any evolutionary relationship between Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, and Homo heidelbergensis is uncertain. Nevertheless, various remains and skulls with 'mixed features' (archaic and modern) share the designation heidelbergensis. In general heidelbergensis skulls of both sexes are strong boned with big brow ridges, jutting faces, long sloping brain cases, and a large dental anatomy - two hominid incisors found at Boxgrove (near Chichester, England) are about 50 percent longer than a modern incisor and may have been employed as a 'third hand'. Other evidence from Boxgrove shows that heidelbergensis man and woman were big powerful hominids with robust skeletons and it has been estimated, from the left tibia found there in 1993, that Boxgrove man stood over six feet tall. Homo heidelbergensis had a larger brain than Homo erectus, spoke, made better tools, and was a more efficient hunter: sixty miles from Hanover (in Germany) four spears were found in association with Homo heidelbergensis; they date to about 400 000 years ago and are the oldest hunting weapons ever found - scholars had assumed modern humans invented hunting a mere 40 000 years ago. The Boxgrove fossils, which include the butchered remains of rhino, bear, horse, and dear, date to about 500 000 years ago. Acheulean tools were used to butcher the animals.
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