Lectures 16 -17: Homo Ergaster, Erectus and Slowly Emerging Modern Human Behaviors (Additional Notes)

Lectures 16 - 17: Homo ergaster, erectus and slowly emerging modern human behaviors - additional notes More skulls of Homo ergaster from Dmanisi Vekua, A., D. Lordkipanidze, G.P. Rightmire, J. Agusti, R. Ferring, G. Maisuradze, A. Mouskhelishvili, M. Nioradze, M. Ponce de Leon, M. Tappen, M. Tvalchrelidze, and C. Zollikofer. 2002 A New Skull of Early Homo from Dmanisi,Georgia. Science 297:85-89. (5 JULY 2002) Abstract: Another hominid skull has been recovered at Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) from the same strata in which hominid remains have been reported previously. The Dmanisi site dated to ca. 1.75 million years ago has now produced craniofacial portions of several hominid individuals, along with many well-preserved animal fossils and quantities of stone artifacts. Although there are certain anatomical differences among the Dmanisi specimens, the hominids do not clearly represent more than one taxon. We assign the new skull provisionally to Homo erectus (= ergaster). The Dmanisi specimens are the most primitive and small-brained fossils to be grouped with this species or any taxon linked unequivocally with genus Homo and also the ones most similar to the presumed habilis -like stem. We suggest that the ancestors of the Dmanisi population dispersed from Africa before the emergence of humans identified broadly with the H.erectus grade. Lordkipanidze, D., A. Vekua, R. Ferring, G.P. Rightmire, J. Agusti, G. Kiladze, A. Mouskhelishvili, M. Nioradze, M. Ponce de Leon, M. Tappen and C. Zollikofer. 2005 Anthropology: The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature 434, 717 - 718 (07 April 2005) Abstract: The site of Dmanisi in the Eurasian republic of Georgia has yielded striking hominin, faunal and archaeological material as evidence for the presence of early Homo outside Africa 1.77 million years ago, documenting an important episode in human evolution. Here we describe a beautifully preserved skull and jawbone from a Dmanisi hominin of this period who had lost all but one tooth several years before death. This specimen not only represents the earliest case of severe masticatory impairment in the hominin fossil record to be discovered so far, but also raises questions about alternative subsistence strategies in early Homo. An offspring of Homo erectus ? Brown, P., T. Sutikna, M. J. Morwood, R. P. Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wayhu Saptomo & Rokus Awe Due 2004 A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431:1055-61. Abstract: Currently, it is widely accepted that only one hominin genus, Homo, was present in Pleistocene Asia, represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Both species are characterized by greater brain size, increased body height and smaller teeth relative to Pliocene Australopithecus in Africa. Here we report the discovery, from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia, of an adult hominin with stature and endocranial volume approximating 1m and 380 cm3, respectively—equal to the smallest-known australopithecines. The combination of primitive and derived features assigns this hominin to a new species, Homo floresiensis. The most likely explanation for its existence on Flores is long-term isolation, with subsequent endemic dwarfing, of an ancestral H. erectus population. Importantly, H. floresiensis shows that the genus Homo is morphologically more varied and flexible in its adaptive responses than previously thought.