Homo Erectus: What Was It Like And What Distinguished It From Us?
The human being is an intellectual slave to the great questions that he has asked himself since he can remember: where do we come from? Where are we going? The search for it is, deep down, what motivates all the science that makes the planet on which we live spin.
Perhaps one of the basic answers to such questions is hidden in the earth we walk on, compacted under the sediments of time, eluding the naked gaze of those who wander over it without questioning who they are or why they are alive and breathing.
Fossils, stony bones that bear silent testimony to what we once were, shout to us about the very nature that we harbor in our genetic code. For this article, we will take a trip back many thousands of years, in order to meet someone closer than we think: Homo erectus
He Homo erectus (“standing man”) belongs to the genus Homowhich describes a subgroup of bipedal primates with a skeleton and nervous system designed for walking in an upright posture, and among which the current human being is located (Homo sapiens). As for homo erectus, it is known that it lived until approximately 70,000 years ago, although its origin dates back a long time (about two million years).
Its first fossil remains were found on the island of Java (Indonesia), and for that reason he was baptized as the “Java man.” At that time it was determined that he must be a species of primate without any connection with the current human being, since the perimeter of his cranial vault did not allow us to infer that the development of his cognitive abilities was even remotely close to ours. It was, therefore, labeled under the scientific nomenclature of anthropopithecus erectus, although as more details about it were discovered, its name was modified until it received the one by which it is known today.
With the passage of time it has been discovered that the fossil remains of the Homo erectus They can be found in numerous geographic regions of Asia and Africa, so it follows that He was the first being capable of moving far beyond the place where all his ancestors rooted (East Africa) This evidence, along with others that will be detailed throughout the article, were the first to suggest that perhaps it was not just another ape: but rather that it could be one of the hominids closest to what we are today, an adventurer from prehistoric times.
It is important to highlight, first of all, that the Homo erectus It was a species that showed great anthropometric variability, reaching the point of confusing the scientific community for decades (when considering that the remains found could actually belong to two or more different animals). All of this also extends to the discrepancies between males and females (sexual dimorphism), as they were more pronounced than in modern humans For this reason, in this article we will talk about the average traits in individuals of the species.
Today we know that the arrangement of its spine and skull allowed it to move bipedally, being equipped with feet whose bone organization is suggestive of the ability to walk upright (precisely for this reason the name with which it was baptized). and even running long distances and hunting while maintaining the same posture. He lived on the ground, and not on trees, at least from what can be deduced from his bones.
The remains found in Africa are undoubtedly much smaller than those found in East Asia; in fact, they even received a different name in their day (homo ergaster) which is still in use today. This implies, of course, that their skulls were also very different. This enormous variability is undoubtedly one of the distinctive features of the Homo erectus and what greater uncertainty it has generated for those who dedicated their lives to understanding it as a unified species.
Determining the size of the brain is essential for knowing the intelligence of every living being, since the proportion determined for its relative weight (with respect to that of the body) is the most used and reliable index to make an estimate in this regard. In the specific case of this species of human, Skulls have been identified with a volume between 700 and 1100 ml, which places them above the gorilla (600 ml) and close to the human (1200-1500 ml). The average that is estimated today is 940 ml, inserted in a very low cranial vault that gave it a notable capacity for development.
He Homo erectus It was also a large and corpulent being, having agreed that its height could reach 1.80 meters, although it would depend on the conditions in which they lived (resources, climate, etc.) and the presence or absence of some natural predator. . They had a strong jaw and no chin, with smaller teeth than those of other hominids with those who came to live together in African territory (such as the Homo habilis or the Homo rudolfensis).
Both brain and physical size have long been used to explain how they came to disperse on this planet, since they necessarily had to enter inhospitable terrain to reach East Asia from the African continent, which required strength and intelligence. It has been estimated that Their ability to adapt to the environment was very similar to that of modern humans despite the fact that in this sense there are still many unknowns that remain unanswered.
What were their habits?
He Homo erectus It was, without a doubt, an animal with a tendency to gregariousness. He lived in small groups, which numbered around 30 individuals, and had a series of differentiated roles that gave the community a clear sense of hierarchy. Its social organization was much more rudimentary than that of the current human being, which required the experience of a cognitive revolution to be able to support coexistence in large cities, but it is a valuable example of how communality was lived in primitive times.
A very interesting fact about this hominid is that it probably He knew fire well, and even used it as a tool to create a meat-based diet (as inferred from the bone hypervitaminosis that is usually obtained in the mineral analysis of their femurs), something that contributed to their enormous brain and technological development. And they could also use (lithic) weapons and various instruments, for which a growing sophistication can be seen, and which allowed a survival that extended far beyond that of contemporary homo.
As it could not be otherwise, they gained access to meat through hunting, for which they organized raids in which a great ability to collaborate in the achievement of a shared purpose was evident. It is also believed that they could prey on those who competed with them for vital resources, or if necessary, join forces with nearby tribes to prey on a larger animal (after which they tended to disperse again). They also acted as scavengers, feeding on the remains of corpses that other animals left behind.
Although it is highly doubtful that this homo was capable of producing an articulate language with which to share “symbols” of a verbal nature, it is known that They used trade (without currency) with related tribes, exchanging the resources necessary for their survival It is also very likely that the females of each of the groups were involved in this process, which became products of trade in order to increase reproductive capacity and reduce the harm of inbreeding.
Why did it become extinct?
The reasons why a species becomes extinct are always diverse, complex and even controversial. In the case at hand, it is evident that they had to go through a particularly difficult climatic period, in which the resources they had to satisfy the most basic need of their bodies began to become scarce: food. And perhaps all this could have happened after the great volcanic eruption of Toba.
This event occurred in the same period for which the end of the year is calculated. Homo erectus (about 70,000 years ago), north of Sumatra (an island in Indonesia), and It was a severe volcanic winter that reduced the population of primates and hominids This moment is considered, in numerous scientific publications, as the most relevant milestone to explain the extinction of many of the species that inhabited the earth at that time, since it entailed dramatic changes in the flora and fauna that they needed for their subsistence.
This incident caused the population of homo erectus (and other species) to be greatly decimated, losing around 90% of the total number of individuals and reproductive pairs. Today it is known that the areas near the sea coasts suffered to a lesser extent the ravages of the volcanic winter (a dense layer of dust that prevented the growth of vegetation at a global level for about five or six years), since there are very close to those of such incident that were affected, but in which homo erectus was able to continue its life with absolute normality (thanks to the abundance of fish).
There are also several recent studies that point to the hypothesis that, for reasons still unknown, Homo erectus could begin to neglect the processes through which he made his weapons and tools This is deduced from the fact that they used precarious materials for them, deciding not to move to relatively close places where they could have provided themselves with better raw materials, settling for poor manufacturing that could reduce their efficiency in hunting and other activities.
These models, fundamentally theoretical and still uncorroborated, would suggest that “laziness” was a contributing factor to the extinction of a species that had the potential to survive the calamity that it had to live through. In any case, the day the Lake Toba volcano erupted, human beings faced what was undoubtedly the most tragic page in their long natural history.
