ARE WE HOMO ERECTUS?

Are We Homo Erectus?
+
BEHAVIOURAL EVIDENCE

One of the characteristics of ‘modern’ Homo sapiens is the display of behaviours such as burying the dead and execution of art. These characteristics of ‘modern’ human behaviour are difficult to discern from the fossil evidence. Although a lot of evidence is available from remains from the past 60,000 years ( rock art, for example), there is little from earlier times – suggesting that Homo erectus had limited behavioural skills and did not display the tool-making skills normally associated with Homo sapiens.

The discovery of wooden spears, fashioned with the foresight and manual skill normally associated with modern humans, from Schobinger, Germany and dated to at least 400,000 years ago, suggests that Homo erectus could do more than had previously been thought possible. For more see this article.

Spear recovered from Wyrie Swamp in South Australia, about 10,000 years old is similar to the spear, found at the Schöningen mine in 1983, which is believed to be more than 400,000 years old.

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