Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens: Physical Differences, Cultural Similarities

Sarah Covert Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens: Physical Differences, Cultural Similarities Thursday, October 16, 2008-10-13 “Improved knowledge about the archaeological contexts for early human fossils is an important step towards such an improved understanding of the behavioral variability of early Homo sapiens.” Despite early assumptions by the scientific community regarding the lower intelligence of Homo erectus, recent research reveals striking commonalities between the species. The differences between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens sapiens appear to have been mostly morphological. Culturally, the two species followed many of the same hunting and shelter usage patterns, as well as adopting similar technological innovations. H. sapiens, the archaic version of the modern human, is a taller and lighter hominin than its contemporary, H. erectus. The major difference between the two seems to be the anatomy of the skull, although H. erectus had stronger, thicker bones throughout the skeletal structure. Physiologically, H. erectus is diagnosed by the presence of “low vaults, with the greatest width being towards the base of the cranium. There is a substantial, essentially continuous, torus above the orbits, posterior to which there is usually a well-marked sulcus. There is both a sagittal torus, and an angular torus that runs towards the mastoid process. The occipital region is sharply-angulated, with a wellmarked supratoral sulcus” Other features include larger molars and a thicker skull The outer cortical bone of the postcranial skeleton is generally thick, and the limb bones have more robust shafts than is the case for modern humans. “The shafts of the femur and the tibia are relatively flattened from front to back and from side to side, respectively, relative to those of modern humans; this is referred to as platymeria and platycnemia,

respectively.” According to Wood, H. sapiens is characterized more by the verticality of the rear cranial vault and larger cranial capacity. Both species were bipedal locomotors with obligate proportions for habitually upright posture. H. sapiens shows a much lighter skeletal structure with longer hands and “less robust bones.”(Wood, 2000) The use of tools instead of brute strength which led to the lighter skeletal structure of H. sapiens does not necessarily preclude the heavier, stronger H. erectus from having taken advantage of tools. Scholars including the renowned Louis Leakey debated tool use in H.erectus up to the mid-1970’s, when “unquestionably, Homo erectus specimens were found at Chou Kou Tien, with a very primitive flake culture…its similarities lie with the Tayacian which was associated with Homo sapiens.” Leakey’s findings show that the two species had cultural and technological developments in common, the flake hand-axe in particular. In the Acheulian period, around 1.5 million years ago, H. erectus was active in the colder climates of Europe, which points to the use of tools and also fire, as campsites show both the presence of ash and lithic products together with butchery and sleeping areas. As Henry wrote in 2004, “Phytolith, use-wear, and lithic technologic evidence indicate that the centrally located area was used for food preparation, cooking, maintenance tasks, and mostly end-of-stream (i.e., retouching, refurbishing, and maintenance) lithic processing. A large sandstone slab thought to have been used as an anvil or table was found [at Tor Faraj].” Both species show what may be evidence of group cooperation (beyond the family unit) in coordination of big-game hunting strategies. Although speculation regarding post-carnivore scavenging is common in the literature, butchery marks discovered on bones of large game discovered near or in campsites show “an extremely

low frequency or absence of carnivore tooth marks and the low numbers of limb epiphyses (with a particular paucity of epiphyses of upper and intermediate limbs,” pointing toward hunting rather than hominin scavenging at sites containing fossils of either species. There is no way to know for sure if the small technological differences between the populations resulted in a survival advantage for H. sapiens or if other factors led to the disappearance of H. erectus. Behaviour seems to vary between populations by locale almost as much as by species, and as the old saying goes, ‘context is everything.’ Examination of the fossil record and comparison of campsite details associated with particular specimens reveals that from hunting techniques to hand-axes, many points of advancement were covalent. Overall, the fossil record leads to the conclusion that H. erectus and H. sapiens were culturally more alike than not.