Homo erectus

Ho·mo e·rec·tus

H0256175 (hō′mō ĭ-rĕk′təs)n. A species of extinct humans known from fossil remains found in Africa and Eurasia and dating from about 1.9 million to less than 100,000 years ago. Homo erectus is widely regarded as an ancestor of Homo sapiens.

[New Latin Homō ērēctus, species name : Latin homō, man + Latin ērēctus, upright.]

Homo erectus

(ɪˈrɛktəs) nan extinct species of primitive man, able to walk upright. See also Java man, Peking man[New Latin, from Latin homo man + erectus upright]

Ho·mo e·rec·tus

(hō′mō ĭ-rĕk′təs) An extinct species of humans that lived during the Pleistocene Epoch from about 1.6 million years ago to 250,000 years ago. Homo erectus was the first species of humans to master fire, and its remains have been found in Africa, Europe, and Asia. It is widely thought to be the direct ancestor of modern humans.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.Homo erectus - extinct species of primitive hominid with upright stature but small brain; "Homo erectus was formerly called Pithecanthropus erectus"genus Homo - type genus of the family Hominidaehuman, human being, homo, man - any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriageJava man, Trinil man - fossil remains found in Java; formerly called Pithecanthropus erectusPeking man - fossils found near Beijing, China; they were lost during World War II

Homo erectus

(hō`mō ērĕk`təs), extinct hominin living between 1.6 million and 250,000 years ago. Homo erectus is thought to have evolved in Africa from H. habilis, the first member of the genus Homo. African forms of H. erectus are classified by some scientists as H. ergaster. Anatomically and physiologically, H. erectus resembles contemporary humans except for a stouter bone structure. The size of its braincase (850–1000 cc), approaches that of H. sapiens, but the cranial bones are more massive than either those of H. habilis or modern humans.

The material culture of H. erectus was significantly more complex than that of its predecessors, including Achuelian stone tools (see PaleolithicPaleolithic period
or Old Stone Age,
the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coextensive with the Pleistocene geologic epoch, beginning about 2 million years ago and ending in various places between
..... Click the link for more information. ), a variety of tools fashioned from wood and other perishable materials, the use of fire, and seasonally occupied, oval-shaped huts. Evidence of extensive cooperative behavior is abundant in a number of European habitation and hunting sites, including Terra Amata, France, and Terralba and Ambrona, Spain. H. erectus populations occupied these sites seasonally, while pursuing an annual subsistence cycle based on a combination of big-game hunting and the gathering of shellfish and plant foods.

H. erectus dispersed into Asia more than 1.3 million years ago, and into Europe by at least 400,000 years ago. Fossils of this species were first discovered in 1891 by French anatomist Eugene Dubois in Java. The specimen, which came to be known as "Java man," was at first classified as Pithecanthropus erectus. H. erectus remains, originally dubbed "Peking man" (Sinanthropus pekinensis), were also found in China at the Zhoukoudian cave near Beijing in the late 1920s. Heidelberg man (named after the 500,000-year-old remains first found near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1907) was classified by some scientists as H. erectus (and by others as archaic H. sapiens), but is now classified as H. heidelbergensis and considered to be the ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

See also human evolutionhuman evolution,
theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology, anthropology, and genetics, and involves the process of natural selection (see Darwinism).
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See B. A. Sigmon and J. S. Cybulski, Homo erectus (1981); N. Eldredge and I. Tattersall, The Myths of Human Evolution (1982); M. H. Day, Guide to Fossil Man (4th ed. 1984); G. P. Rightmire, The Evolution of Homo Erectus (1990); D. Johanson, L. Johanson, and B. Edgar, Ancestors (1994); C. C. Swisher 3d et al., Java Man (2000); P. Shipman, The Man Who Found the Missing Link: Eugène Dubois and His Lifelong Quest to Prove Darwin Right (2001).

Homo erectus

[′hō·mō ə′rek·təs] (paleontology) A type of fossil human from the Pleistocene of Java and China representing a specialized side branch in human evolution.

Homo erectus

Palaeoanthropology
An extinct hominid of the genus Homo that lived from 1.8 to 1.3 million years ago (from the end of Pliocene to the later Pleistocene) in Africa, and spread to China and Java. H erectus had a less protruding face, a thick brow ridge and a larger cerebral cavity (±850 cc) than H habilis; H erectus may have been the first hominid to migrate out of Africa, spreading to Indonesia and China. Some believe that H erectus is the same as H ergaster and is the director ancestor of H heidelbergensis, H neanderthalensis and H sapiens.
Vox populi
See Closet, Glory hole

Homo erectus

see HEIDELBERG MAN.

Homo erectus

Ho·mo e·rec·tus

Homo erectus

Ho·mo e·rec·tus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Bibliography

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Words related to Homo erectus

noun extinct species of primitive hominid with upright stature but small brain

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