Homo ergaster
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| Homo ergaster Fossil range: Pleistocene |
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 Skull KNM-ER 3733 discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in 1975 (Kenya)
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| †Homo ergaster Groves and Mazák, 1975 |
Homo ergaster[1] is an extinct hominin species (or subspecies, according to some authorities) which lived throughout eastern and southern Africa between 1.9 to 1.4 million years ago with the advent of the lower Pleistocene and the cooling of the global climate.
H. ergaster is sometimes categorized as a subspecies of Homo erectus. H. erectus and Homo heidelbergensis are probably the migratory descendants of H. ergaster. H. ergaster may be distinguished from H. erectus by its thinner skull bones and lack of an obvious supraorbital sulcus. Derived features separating it from earlier species include reduced sexual dimorphism; a smaller, more orthognathic (flat) face; a smaller dental arcade; and a larger (700 - 850 cm³) cranial capacity. It is estimated that H. ergaster stood at 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) tall. Remains have been found in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa.
The most complete Homo ergaster skeleton known was discovered at Lake Turkana, Kenya, in 1984. Paleoanthropologists Richard Leakey, Kamoya Kimeu and Alan Walker dubbed the 1.6 million year old specimen as KNM-WT 15000 (nicknamed "Turkana Boy").
The type specimen of H. ergaster is KNM ER 992[2]; the species was named by Colin Groves and Vratislav Mazák in 1975.
The species name originates from the Greek ergaster meaning "Workman". This name was chosen due to the discovery of various tools such as hand-axes and cleavers near the skeletal remains of H. ergaster. This is one of the reasons that it is sometimes set apart distinctly from other human ancestors. Its use of advanced (rather than simple) tools was unique to this species; H. ergaster tool use belongs to the Acheulean industry. H. ergaster first began using these tools 1.6 million years ago. Charred animal bones in fossil deposits and traces of camps suggest that the species made creative use of fire. Another notable characteristic of H. ergaster is that it was the first hominid to have the same body proportions (longer legs and shorter arms) as modern H. sapiens.[3] Homo ergaster (or either of the two species generally classified collectively as Homo erectus, Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis) was conceivably the first of the hominins to use articulate language. Homo habilis probably had a significantly complex system of communication, but the location of the hyoid bone and the contours of its brain make it unlikely that H. habilis used anything we would recognise as speech.
[edit] Notable fossils
- KNM ER 3733
- Turkana Boy - also classified as Homo erectus
- KNM ER 992
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Homo ergaster could be translated as "working man"
- ^ KNM-ER 992 is short for: Kenya National Museum (where it is housed); East Rudolf (where it was found); and 992 (the museum acquisition number)
- ^ Standford, C.; J.S. Allen and S.C. Anton (2006). Biological Anthropology. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
[edit] References
- Tattersall, Ian; Jeffrey Schwartz (2000). Extinct Humans. Boulder and Cumnor Hill: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3482-9.
[edit] External links
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