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Homo erectus
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illustration of Homo erectus map of early human species Sangiran 17 Peking man replica of KNM-ER 3733, a fossil specimen of Homo erectus cranial capacity of members of the human lineage artist's depiction of Homo erectus Reconstructed skull of Peking man, based on Homo erectus specimens found at Zhoukoudian, China, and dated to approximately 230,000–770,000 years ago. human lineage hominin cranial capacity
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illustration of Homo erectus Artist's rendering of Homo erectus, which lived from approximately 1,700,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Homo erectus

extinct hominin
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Also known as: Homo ergaster
Written by
G. Philip Rightmire
Professor of Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton.
G. Philip Rightmire,
Phillip Vallentine Tobias
Emeritus Professor of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Author of Olduvai Gorge (vol. 2 and 4).
Phillip Vallentine Tobias•All
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Last Updated: • Article History
Latin:
“upright man”

News •

The Search to Find the Remains of Homo Erectus in a Vanishing Landscape • Feb. 7, 2025, 1:08 AM ET (Smithsonian Magazine)

Homo erectus, extinct species of the human genus (Homo), perhaps an ancestor of modern humans (Homo sapiens). H. erectus most likely originated in Africa, though Eurasia cannot be ruled out. Regardless of where it first evolved, the species seems to have dispersed quickly, starting about 1.9 million years ago (mya) near the middle of the Pleistocene Epoch, moving through the African tropics, Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. This history has been recorded directly if imprecisely by many sites that have yielded fossil remains of H. erectus. At other localities, broken animal bones and stone tools have indicated the presence of the species, though there are no traces of the people themselves. H. erectus was a human of medium stature that walked upright. The braincase was low, the forehead was receded, and the nose, jaws, and palate were wide. The brain was smaller and the teeth larger than in modern humans. H. erectus appears to have been the first human species to control fire, some 1,000,000 years ago. The species seems to have flourished until some 200,000 years ago (200 kya) or perhaps later before giving way to other humans including Homo sapiens.