ARCH 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Homo Ergaster, Oldowan, Homo Erectus
27 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Emergence of the Genus Homo
Early Homo -- Homo habilis
2.4 mya (new fossil found that dates back to 2.8 mya) to 1.4 mya
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cranial capacity 500 -800 cc (cubic cm)
See it around 630 cubic cm
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cranium is ore rounded
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Postcranial skeleton similar to Australopithecus
Somewhat prognathic (less face protruding)
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Smaller then modern human, but larger that Australopithecine
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About 4 ft. tall
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Important sites include:
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (found around 1960, but Leakey son,
Jonathon--about 1.9 mya)
Teeth were smaller
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Increase in the size of the brain (680 cubic cm)
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Found in the same layer that had stone tools
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Koobi Fora, Kenya
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Hadar, Ethiopia
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Homo rudolfensis
Debate on how to classify
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Contemporary** (lived around the same time) to H. habilis
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Skeleton similar to H. habilis (difference in skull)
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Larger, thicker enameled teeth than H. habilis (face is a bit flatter,
and broader)
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Important site
Koobi Fora, Kenya
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Early stone tools
There is recent evidence that stone tools were used as early as 3.3
million*years ago.
A number of simple stone tools were recovered from Lomekwi
3*, West Turkana, Kenya.
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No hominin remains were found with the tools, so it is not possible
to know which hominin species used them.
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Early stone tools associated with H. habilis are known as the
Oldowan industry
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Oldowan tools dating to about 2.5 mya have been recovered **
(considered the oldest tools)--manufactured by Homo habilis by
'percussion flaking'--Oldowan chopper, or flaking tools (two rocks
hitting together)
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We don’t see hunting in this era (most likely scavenging)
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Homo erectus ("the first human")
Emerged 1.8 million years ago
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It is the first hominin to leave the African continent
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Has a larger body, uniquely shaped skull and larger brain**
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cranial capacity 800 cc to 1200 cc**
Have a unique low, and angular skull
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The back has somewhat of a projection (occipital torus)
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2.3 size of a human brain
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They don’t have a chin (anatomically modern humans have that
projection of a chin)
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5.5 ft. over 100 lbs
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It's human-like (where we really start to see the characteristics of
humans)
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First one to be successful hunters
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African and Georgian forms are often classified as Homo ergaster*
Very rounded eye orbits (eye sockets more rounded)
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Homo erectus Sites African Sites
Oldest African specimens date to about 1.8mya
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Nariokotome, Kenya
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Koobi Fora, Kenya
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Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
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Eastern Europe
Dmanisi, Georgia – earliest well dated archaeological site outside of
Africa
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Dates to 1.7+mya
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Emergence of the genus Homo: Homo habilis, Homo
naledi (pg. 85-103)
Monday, September 25, 2017
10:52 AM
