Homo ergaster
| Homo ergaster Fossil range: Pleistocene | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Homo ergaster Colin Groves & Vratja Mazak, 1975 |
Homo ergaster (Greek derivation: working man), an early hominid (refer also to hominim), may either have been a predecessor of Homo erectus or an early group of Homo erectus. H. ergaster’s presence has been dated variously and may have ranged over a period of 1.9 to 1.5 million years ago. Remains of H. ergaster have been discovered in Kenya and Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
History of Discovery
Description
H. ergaster had a rounded cranium and a prominent browridge. Compared to Australopithecus, its teeth were significantly smaller. Features that distinguish H. ergaster from H. erectus were thinner bones of the skull and the lack of an obvious sulcus, or depression, immediately posterior of the browridge.[1][2][3][6]
Taxonomic status
Collections
Language in Homo ergaster
Occurrences/Sites
Temporal range
Associated artifacts
Tool making and use
H. ergaster evidently used large cutting tools of stone, primarily hand axes and cleavers. These tools represent an advanced stage of stone tool technology known as the Achulean stone tool industry now believed to have developed after hominid migration out of the region of eastern Africa.[1]
Important fossils
KNM ER 3733 cranium
Discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in Koobi Fora, Kenya in 1975, ER 3733 is a mature female that may have lived about 1.75 million years ago.[7]
KNM ER 3883 cranium
Discovered in 1976 by Richard Leakey, the ER 3883 is a skull cap which retains an intact right orbit. ER 3883 has no sulcus or depression behind its large browridges.
Found in Koobi Fora, Kenya, ER 3883 was originally thought to be species Homo erectus but has been reclassified as Homo ergaster. ER 3883 may have belonged to a male that lived about 1.5 million years ago.[8]
KNM ER 992 mandible
ER 992 was discovered in 1971 by Richard Leakey in Koobi Fora, Kenya. It is dated to about 1.5 million years ago. The ER 992 mandible shows a lighter build and smaller teeth than Homo erectus.[6]
Turkana Boy KNM WT 15000
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Homo ergaster Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Homo ergaster Steven Heslip, Michigan State University
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dmanisi hominids Dmanisi Site
- ↑ Doubting Dmanisi Pat Shipman (2000) American Scientist On-Line. Vol. 88: 6 (p. 491). Note: A great deal of the debate around the species found at Dmanisi has focused on the disagreement on characteristics of various species of hominid. One interpretation now has it thatHomo ergaster is shorthand for "the earliest part of the evolving ergaster/erectus lineage."
- ↑ Earliest Pleistocene hominid cranial remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: Taxonomy, Geological Setting, and Age L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, C.C. Swisher III, R. Ferring, A. Justus, M. Nioradze, M. Tvalrelidze, S.C. Anton, G. Bosinski, O. J`ris, M.A. de Lumley, G. Majsuradzs, and A. Muskhelishvili (2000). Summary of article appearing in Science vol. 288, pages 1019-1025. May 12, 2000
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 KNM ER 992 Smithsonian Institute
- ↑ KNM ER 3733 Smithsonian Institute
- ↑ KNM ER 3883 Smithsonian Institute