Chapter 10 Human Sp.

• H. erectus (last chapter) was new grade of human evolution • Hominids that follow are much more like modern humans • But still significantly different • These immediate predecessors are referred to as “premodern humans”

• Hominids following Homo erectus • Before anatomically modern human • Includes “Homo heidelbergensis” • And others such as Neandertal When, Where and What**

• The Pleistocene • Often called the Ice Age

• Most premodern hominids in this chapter lived in the • Middle Pleistocene Some later premodern, lived well into the Upper Pleistocene • Ice sheets covered much of the northern continents • Northern areas of Europe and Asia became uninhabitable

• Ice sheets retreating and becoming smaller • Certain migration routes reopened

• Middle Pleistocene hominids dispersed throughout Old World

• Premoderns generally succeeded Homo erectus • Except coexisted for long periods in Asia

• Earliest premoderns • Some Homo erectus characteristics • And modern features • Larger brain • Rounded brain case • (maximum breath higher – not wider at base) • Trend toward brain expansion

• Diverse group over three continents • Disagreement on how to classify

• Now more consensus about “H. heidelbergensis” • Premodern fossils from Africa and Europe • Placed within Homo heidelbergensis

• Premoderns were recently considered an early, primitive, transitional “Homo sapiens” and called “Archaic Homo sapiens” • The name "Archaic Homo sapiens" replaced by name "Homo heidlebergensis" in Europe and Africa

• Homo heidelbergensis • Transitional • Probable ancestor to both modern humans and Neandertals

• 1) Africa • 2) Europe • 3) Asia

• Premodern fossils found at several sites in South and East Africa: See Quick Review: Key Premodern Human (H. Heidelbergensis) Fossils from Africa

• One of the earliest Homo heidelbergensis in Africa • Evidence of butchering