H. Heidelbergensis
heidelbergensis)
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Binomial name
Homo heidelbergensis
Schoetensack, 1908
Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man") is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago.
heidelbergensis stone tool technology was considerably close to that of the Acheulean tools used by Homo erectus.
Morphology and interpretations
Reconstruction of Homo heidelbergensis
Both H. heidelbergensis are likely descended from the morphologically very similar Homo ergaster from Africa.
heidelbergensis had a larger brain-case — with a typical cranial volume of 1100-1400 cm³ overlapping the 1350 cm³ average of modern humans — and had more advanced tools and behavior, it has been given a separate species classification. The species was tall, 1.8 m (6 ft) on average, and more muscular than modern humans.
ROA hypothesis
According to the "Recent Out of Africa" theory, similar "Archaic Homo sapiens" found in Africa (i.e., Homo sapiens idaltu only 160,000 years old), existing in Africa as a part of the operation of the Saharan pump, and not the European forms of H.
heidelbergensis may have been the first species of the Homo genus to bury their dead, but that is contested at this time. No forms of art or sophisticated artifacts other than stone tools have been uncovered, although red ochre, a mineral that can be used to create a red pigment which is useful as a paint, has been found at Terra Amata excavations in the south of France.
Language
Homo heidelbergensis skull replica
The morphology of the outer and middle ear suggests they had an auditory sensitivity similar to modern humans and very different from chimpanzees.
heidelbergensis was a close relative (most probably a migratory ancestor) of H. ergaster is thought to be the first hominin to speak, and therefore H.
heidelbergensis probably could speak an early form of language as well, though this is mainly asserted on the basis of inference.
Evidence of hunting
Cut marks found on wild deer, elephants, rhinoceroses and horses demonstrate that they were butchered. Some of the animals weighed as much as 700 kg (1,500 lb) or possibly larger.
The lack of projectile weaponry is an indication of different sustenance methods, rather than inferior technology or abilities. sapiens, who also rarely threw objects, but used spears and clubs instead.
Discovery
Replica of the type specimen from Mauer
The first fossil discovery of this species was made on October 21, 1907, and came from Mauer where the workman Daniel Hartmann spotted a jaw in a sandpit.
The workman gave it to Professor Otto Schoetensack from the University of Heidelberg, who identified and named the fossil.
The next H. heidelbergensis remains were found in Steinheim an der Murr, Germany (the Steinheim Skull, 350kya); Arago, France (Arago 21); Petralona, Greece; and Ciampate del Diavolo, Italy.
Boxgrove Man
In 1994 British scientists unearthed a lower hominin tibia bone just a few kilometres away from the English Channel, along with hundreds of ancient hand axes, at the Boxgrove Quarry site.
heidelbergensis was the early proto-human species that occupied both France and Great Britain at that time; both locales were connected by a landmass during that epoch. The pit contains fossils of perhaps 28 individuals together with remains of Ursus deningeri and other carnivores and a biface called Excalibur.
It is hypothesized that this Acheulean axe made of red quartzite was some kind of ritual offering for a funeral. heidelbergensis is an extinct species, and some that it is a cladistic ancestor to other Homo forms sometimes improperly linked to distinct species in terms of populational genetics.
Some scenarios of survival include
H heidelbergensis > H.