The Genus part 2

At a similar time to Homo ergaster appearing in the fossil record, a  species called Homo erectus existed in Asia. Many people in the scientific community believe that these two species are interlinked and that H. erectus is just an Asian version of H. ergaster which migrated from Africa to colonise other climes. An alternative view is that H. erectus evolved completely separately in Asia and then migrated to Africa at a later date. An analysis will be conducted on this subject in a separate post so we can look at it in a bit more detail.

For now we'll push on with the biographies of the most influential species from our past.

H. erectus were a species of Homo who travelled a lot (assuming they evolved in Africa). In the 1.5 million years (around about) that they existed they managed to reach countries as far flung as China, India and Europe, surviving as hunter gatherers. Their brains were the largest to date at about 2/3 the size of ours, they were using this extra brain power for innovations such as ocean crossing by raft and controlling fire (although this is still a source of contention).

A trailer for the film 'Homo erectus'. Don't let the title fool you, this is a truly terrible film!

 

  Another species which has been found outside of Africa is that of Homo neanderthalansis; you may know them as neanderthals. In popular media this group has been described as the quintessential 'caveman' complete with bone club and a tiny intellect, however what you may not know is that they had brains actually larger than our own. Their morphology (structure) was more robust and muscly than ours and was evidently geared towards a life in cooler climes - a reflection of their commonly ice age habitat. Genetically neanderthals were very similar to us, so much so that there is debate about whether they should actually be a sub species of sapien instead of a seperate species all together. This would result in a reclassification of their name to Homo sapien neanderthalansis. They would have inhabited Europe 230,000 years ago until their extinction as recently as 28,000 years ago.  

Now, finally, we have reached the conclusion of our Homo safari, with a description of our own species Homo sapien. The earliest remains currently place the dawn of our species at 195,000 years ago, not too long after neanderthals; this was marked by a brain size equal to modern man and small teeth adapted for a varied diet.We quickly dispersed from Africa, travelling to Asia Europe and later the Americas and Australia, by 12,000 years ago we inhabited all continents except Antartica.

 

From left. H.erectus, H. neanderthalansis and H. Sapien.