Homo erectus


Homo erectus

Dated to between 1.7 million and 300,000 years, the Eurasian species: Homo erectus represents one the hominids closest, in eveolutionary terms, to Homo sapiens. H. erectus has a large cranial capacity, yet differs from H. sapiens in the robusticity of its skeletal structure, name in the face. A trademark of erectus appearence is a large supra orbital torus, post-orbital constriction, an occipital bun, a large jaw with a wide ramus, as well as having no chin. There are varying theories as to the true origins of H. erectus. As it stands now, Homo ergaster is the H. erectus contemporary in Africa. This places erectus as a primarily European and Asian species. The difference between erectus and ergaster is not purely geographic, however, as Homo erectus also manages a more robust face than is found in ergaster. The type sprcimen of H. erectus is the Cranium from Trinil in Java, found by Dubois in 1891.

The Fossils:

	Chenjiawo Partial Mandible

	EV 9001 Skull ~From Yunxian, China

	EV 9002 Skull ~From Yunxian, China

	PA 86 Partial Mandible

	PA 830 or Hexian Cranial Vault ~Discovered in 1980 at Longtandau Cave, Anhui Province, China ~Dated to between 150,000 - 270,000 picture credit

	PA 1051-6 Gonwangling (~From Longtandau Cave, Anhui Province, China??)

	PL-1 (Sambungmacan) Skull

	Saldanha Cranium ~Found by Jolly and Singer at Elandsfontein, South Africa in 1953 ~Dated to 500,000 years picture and reference credit

	Sangiran 2 or Pithecanthropus 2 Skull ~Discovered in 1937 by von Koenigswald at Sangiran, Java, Indonesia ~Dated to between 700,000 to 1.6 million years picture credit

	Sangiran 4 or Pithecanthropus 4 Partial Cranium ~Found in 1939 by R. von Koenigswald and F. Weidenreich at Sangiran, Java, Indonesia ~Dated to 1 million years

	Sangiran 9 Partial Cranium ~Found by farmer Donald Tyler in 1993 at Sangiran ~Dated to 700,000 years

	Sangiran 17 Partial Cranium ~By collectors for S. Sartono in 1969 at Sangiran ~Dated to 700,000 years picture credit

	Solo 6 Partial Skull ~From Ngandong, Java (on Solo River)

	Solo 9 Cranium ~From Ngandong, Java (on Solo River)

	Trinil 2 Cranium ~Found in 1891 by Eugene Dubois at Trinil, Java ~Trinil 2 is the type specimen for Homo erectus

	Ternifine 2&3 Mandibles ~From 1954 by C. Arambourg and R. Hoffstetter at Ternifine, Algeria ~Dated to 700,000 years

	Yuanmou Teeth

	Zhoukoudian Cranial Material ~Material was lost during world War II ~Here is a reconstruction by Franz Weidenreich ~Dated to 300,000 - 550,000 years picture credit

	Zhoukoudian 5 Cranium ~From Zhoukoudian, China

	Zhoukoudian XII Cranium ~From Zhoukoudian, China


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A. ramidus ~ A. anamensis ~ A. afarensis ~ A. africanus ~ A. gahri ~ A. bahrelghazali ~ P. boisei ~ P. aethiopicus ~ P. robustus ~ H. habilis ~ H. rudolfensis ~ H. erectus ~ H. ergaster ~ H. antecessor ~ H. heidelbergensis ~ H. neanderthalensis ~ H. sapiens
Southern Africa ~ Eastern Africa ~ North Central Africa ~ Asia ~ Europe/Northwestern Africa

Steven Heslip ~ 2001 ~ heslipst@msu.edu