Habilis and erectus contemporary

2007/08/09 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Eboluzioa
• Geologia
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The oldest ancestors of the human race are Homo habilis and Homo erectus, and so far it has been believed that the second evolved from the first, but this conviction has been challenged by a finding framed in the Koobi Fora Research Project in northern Kenya.

The discovery is double: They find a jaw of a Homo habilis and an entire skull of a Homo erectus. Both are from the same time: a million four hundred and forty thousand years ago the jaw and a million five hundred and fifty thousand years ago the skull. Well, the jaw is from the time when it was believed that the Homo habilis had disappeared, which shows that H. habilis and H. erectus lived in the same era (long, in addition, half a million years or). It is undoubtedly a discovery that will surprise the powders.

But, as we have said, the discovery is not there. They have focused on the size of the skull of H. erectus, since the findings so far are much larger (in the image you see the difference with one found in Tanzania). And according to experts working on the project, the only possibility to explain this difference in size is sexual dimorphism: females were much smaller than males. This characteristic is very primitive and, if true, it would show that the species H. erectus is farther from what was thought of the human being.

Photo: National Museums of Kenya / F. Spoor and J. Reader.