Natural history ofHomo erectus

Abstract

Our view of H. erectus is vastly different today than when Pithecanthropus erectus was described in 1894. Since its synonimization into Homo, views of the species and its distribution have varied from a single, widely dispersed, polytypic species ultimately ancestral to all later Homo, to a derived, regional isolate ultimately marginal to later hominin evolution. A revised chronostratigraphic framework and recent work bearing either directly or indirectly on reconstructions of life-history patterns are reviewed here and, together with a review of the cranial and postcranial anatomy of H. erectus, are used to generate a natural history of the species. Here I argue that H. erectus is a hominin, notable for its increased body size, that originates in the latest Pliocene/earliest Pleistocene of Africa and quickly disperses into Western and Eastern Asia. It is also an increasingly derived hominin with several regional morphs sustained by intermittent isolation, particularly in Southeast Asia. This view differs from several current views, most especially that which recognizes only a single hominin species in the Pleistocene, H. sapiens, and those which would atomize H. erectus into a multiplicity of taxa. Following Jolly ([2001] Yrbk Phys Anthropol 44:177-204), the regional morphs of H. erectus may be productively viewed as geographically replacing allotaxa, rather than as the focus of unresolvable species debates. Such a view allows us to focus on the adaptations and biology of local groups, including questions of biogeographic isolation and local adaptation. A number of issues remain unresolved, including the significance of diversity in size and shape in the early African and Georgian records.

The human colonisation of Europe: where are we?

“…The discussion on the classification of the Dmanisi material is testimony to the diversity of opinions (cf. Gabunia et al, 2002;Antó n, 2003;Schwartz and Tattersall, 2005;Rightmire et al, 2006). In Schwartz and Tattersall's view: 'at the morphrecognition level none of its constituents can at present be shown to bear a compelling resemblance to claimed Homo erectus materials from either Africa or Asia, despite a few isolated similarities here or there.…”

The evolutionary roles of nutrition selection and dietary quality in the human brain size and encephalization

“…With the emergence of the genus Homo at 2.0 mya (H. ergaster/erectus) [4], there was a marked increase in body size, mainly in females, who almost double in size compared with Australopithecine [5]. The oldest fossil evidence for Homo sapiens is from Southern and Eastern Africa, dating to about 160-250 kya [6,7].…”

Global and local perspectives on cranial shape variation in Indonesian <i>Homo erectus</i>

“…Higher variation in the early Indonesian record was also documented by Antón ( , 2003 and Kaifu et al (2008). One possibility is that some of the individual differences in the early part of the record are enhanced by taphonomic processes as all of the Sangiran fossils evaluated here have cracks running throughout, some were substantially reconstructed (Skull IX), and, in the case of Sang 4, the two pieces of the posterior vault are not attached.…”

“…There is substantial variation within this sample that spans three continents and more than a million years of evolutionary change. Some of this variation is attributable to diachronic change (Wolpoff et al, 1994;Antón, 2003;Kaifu et al, 2005Kaifu et al, , 2008, and to geography (perhaps related to genetic drift or local adaptation) Kidder and Durband, 2004;Durband, 2006;Baab, 2010), but is also influenced by cranial size (Santa Luca, 1980;Antón et al, 2007;Baab, 2008b;Kaifu et al, 2008). Some studies have found that the Zhoukoudian hominins are particularly distinct in their craniometric dimensions Kidder and Durband, 2004), while others have indicated that the Ngandong/Sambungmacan/Ngawi series of calvaria are at least as distinct (Baab, 2010;Zeitoun et al, 2010).…”