ANTH 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Swiss Army Knife, Homo Ergaster, Homo Erectus
26 Mar 2020
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Document Summary
Pleistocene (1. 8 ma - 10 ka) climate oscillation. Interval marked by repeated glacial cycles, known as the ice age. Colder and more variable climate starting at 1. 8 mya. Huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets. Exposed land bridges connecting continents, allowing homo species to travel across continents. Homo erectus and ergaster (1. 8 ma - ca 30 ka) Skull traits: bar-like supraorbital focus, sagittal keel, enlarged brain, pentagon shaped cranium. Homo erectus has smaller teeth than previous homo species. Brain size average 980 cm cubed, close to modern human range. Debate over whether homo erectus and homo ergaster are two different species. Evidence that they had similar locomotive patterns through footprints that were indistinguishable from modern humans. Adolescent skeleton, estimated at 8 years based on dental development. At an estimated stature of 5"3", indicates a significant increase in overall body size to australopithecus. Acheulean tool industry 1. 6 ma - 200,000 years ago.
