Question

Homo erectus (Anthropology)

1. Describe the physical characteristics of Homo erectus. How does this species compare to earlier hominins and to modern humans (Homo sapiens)?
2. Explain why losing body hair and being able to sweat may have given hominins an advantage.

Answer 1

Homo erectus is arguably the earliest species in the human lineage to have so many human-like qualities . Homo, is a Latin word meaning ‘human’ or ‘man’ and is the genus or group name of this species.The second word in this species’ scientific name is erectus. This name was selected to indicate that this species’ ability to stand and walk with an upright. It is referred to as the first cosmopolitan hominin lineage.While fossil remains from H. erectus are found in Africa.Fossils of these are short and stocky humans , with distinctive skull shape and large brow ridges. One of the most commonly associated trait with homo erectus are its increase in body size. This species had a robust skeleton that was generally similar to those of modern humans. But, the skulls of were quite different to those of modern humans.The skull was broad and long as shar at the rear .The bones of the akull were very thick and form a central ridge known as Midline Keel . The brain structure was similar that of human brain and the size of the brain is increased over earlier species and about 1050 cubic cms. the jaws were large and thick without a pointed chin and the tooth had very large roots. Limbs were like modern humans and the bones were thicker. The absolute increase in brain volume that accompanies an increase in body size, there is also a proportional increase. This is referred to as encephalization, and is an important characteristic of H. erectus.

Homo erectus represents a significant transformation from previous hominins, to a species much more similar to modern humans. Relative to their earlier hominins, Homo erectus was bigger, smarter, and more able to occupy and survive in differing landscapes in a changing world. Due to the large body and large brain H.erectus needed more energy than the earlier hominins.The smallest-bodied early H. erectus fossils have brain sizes only slightly larger than earlier hominins , early large-bodied specimens, have a brain volume greater than 800 cubic cms, more than 50% larger than earlier hominins (and about 60% of the typical brain size of someone living today.

H. erectus had a similar range of body sizes to modern humans, and it is the first human ancestor to have similar limb and torso proportions to those seen in modern humans. This suggests it had adapted to walking on two feet in a more open, grassland environment, rather than swinging from tree branch to branch. Compared with modern Homo sapiens, ('"wise man " ) which have only been around for the last 200,000 years, Homo erectus, or "upright man," had a long reign. The ancient ancestor of modern humans lived from 2 million years ago till about 100,000 years ago, possibly even 50,000 years ago. And Homo erectus is an extinct species of human that lived between 1.9 million and 135,000 years ago. Many researches by the paleontologists have attempted to show that H. erectus does not make a suitable morphological ancestor for Homo sapiens. Because the braincase is long, low, and thick-walled and has a strong browridge,and they showed that H. erectus shows derived (or specialized) characteristics not shared with more modern humans. At the same time, Homo sapiens does share some features, including a rounded, lightly built cranium, with earlier hominins such as H. habilis. Modern Homo sapiens skulls have a short base and a high braincase .Back of the skull is rounded and the face is small which projects the nose bone and the eye socketa are square than round. modern humans can generally be characterized by the lighter build of their skeletons compared to earlier humans. Brain size varies from population to population and to male and female. but the average size is approximately 1300 cubic centimeters.

Our earliest human-like ancestors, known as hominins, were ape-like. For them, fur would have been useful, keeping them warm on cold nights. Hominis are as hairy as chimpanzees could not cope with mid day sunlight and they will go hiding and waste their useful time hunting and they stay in shady forests. But the hominins started to run long distances for hunting . They could bring down large game animals by running them under exhausion which put then under more over heating. In order to cope with that they had to lose fur and help them sweat. For sweat to be efficient you need to be mostly hairless. That is the reason why sweating is a useful thing and hence why hair loss is a useful thing.Our sweaty hairlessness, allowed us to hunt for longer, chasing nutritious large game that eventually helped give us the energy we needed to fuel growing brains.