The Dispersal of Homo erectus from Africa and the Emergence of More Modern Humans

Abstract

The earliest traces of Homo erectus have been uncovered in eastern Africa, where fossils from the Turkana basin are 1.7 to 1.8 million years in age. Later members of this species reached other parts of the continent, and probably Homo erectus had begun to disperse out of Africa before 1.0 million years ago. One route would have taken archaic people around the eastern Mediterranean, to Europe and southwestern Asia. Assemblages of crude stone tools are found in Europe, although no human bones are known from these Early Pleistocene localities. The spread of Homo erectus eastward into Asia is poorly documented, but it is clear that populations were present in Java at an early date, and the famous caves at Zhoukoudian were inhabited nearly 0.5 million years ago. Throughout this long history, the species seems to have remained stable morphologically. There are few indications of change, and evolutionary continuity with later groups is not readily apparent. Anatomically more advanced fossils from sites in Europe...