ARE WE HOMO ERECTUS?

Are We Homo Erectus?
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DISPUTED EVIDENCE

Many scientists have been outspoken against the Out-of-Africa Hypothesis, in particular Wolpoff et al. (1989) and Thorne (1980). The “Out-of-Africa hypothesis” places the arrival of H. sapiens in New Guinea and Australia somewhere about 40,000 years ago, whereas modern data suggests a much earlier arrival date of about 60,000 years (Morwood, 2002). According to Bowler (2003), Homo sapiens was established at Lake Mungo about 50,000 years ago.

The skulls below display many of the typical characteristics of Homo erectus, including the well developed brow ridges and skull crest.

There is fossil evidence of Homo erectus in Java, Indonesia, that has been dated to greater than 1.5 million years ago, and Ar/Ar dating indicates that Homo erectus occupied the Solo basin in Java for at least half a million years, from 1.5 million years ago (Larick, et al. 2001).

A claim that the Chinese remains of Homo erectus lie morphologically in the descent of modern Mongoloids has been made by several researchers (Wolpoff et al. 1984).

Below is a cranium of “archaic” Homo sapiens, which shows features found in both H. erectus (brow ridges) and H. sapiens (higher skull).

Fossils of Homo erectus, ‘early’ Homo sapiens as well as ‘modern’ Homo sapiens have been found in East Asia, and late Pleistocene sites in China (Brown, 1992). Brown (1992) claims that although evolutionary continuity in the Homo line can be seen for the Holocene, there is insufficient skeletal evidence to extend this claim to the Pleistocene.

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NEXT PAGE
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INTRODUCTION
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MULTI-REGIONAL HYPOTHESIS
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OUT-OF-AFRICA HYPOTHESIS
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ANALYSIS OF HYPOTHESES
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EVIDENCE FROM MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
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DISPUTED EVIDENCE
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AUSTRALIAN CONTROVERSY
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BEHAVIOURAL EVIDENCE
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CONCLUSION
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REFERENCES
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