Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man", named after the
University of Heidelberg) is an
extinct species of the
genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both
Homo neanderthalensis in
Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominin date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago.
H. heidelbergensis stone tool technology was very close to that of the
Acheulean tools used by
Homo erectus.
Morphology and interpretations
Reconstruction of Homo heidelbergensis
Both
H. antecessor and
H. heidelbergensis are likely descended from the morphologically very similar
Homo ergaster from Africa. But because
H. 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.
Social behavior
In theory recent findings in
Atapuerca (
Spain) also suggest that
H. heidelbergensis may have been the first species of the
Homo genus to bury their dead, but that is contested at this time. Some experts believe that
H. heidelbergensis, like its descendant
H. neanderthalensis, acquired a primitive form of language. 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
The morphology of the outer and middle ear suggests they had an auditory sensitivity similar to modern humans and very different from chimpanzees. They were probably able to differentiate between many different sounds. Dental wear analysis suggests they were as likely to be right handed as modern people.
H. heidelbergensis was a close relative (most probably a migratory descendant) of
H. ergaster. H. ergaster is thought to be the first hominin to speak, and therefore
H. heidelbergensis probably could speak an early form of symbolic language as well.
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. During this era, now-extinct wild animals such as
mammoths,
European lions and
Irish elk roamed the European continent.
Moreover, a number of 400,000-year-old wooden projectile spears were found at
Schöningen in northern Germany. These are thought to have been made by
H. erectus or
H. heidelbergensis. Generally, projectile weapons are more commonly associated with
H. sapiens. The lack of projectile weaponry is an indication of different sustenance methods, rather than inferior technology or abilities. The situation is identical to that of native New Zealand Maori, modern
H. sapiens, who also rarely threw objects, but used spears and clubs instead.
Divergent Evolution
Homo heidelbergensis skull replica
Most experts now agree that
H. heidelbergensis is the direct ancestor of
H. sapiens (with some indecision among such specimens as
H. antecessor, now largely considered H. heidelbergensis) and
H. neanderthalensis. Because of the radiation of H. heidelbergensis out of Africa and into Europe, the two populations were mostly isolated during the
Wolstonian stage and
Ipswichian stage, the last of the prolonged
Quaternary glacial periods. Neanderthals diverged from H. heidelbergensis probably some 300,000 years ago in Europe, during the Wolstonian stage; H. sapiens probably diverged between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago in Africa. Such fossils as the
Atapuerca skull and the
Kabwe skull bear witness to the two branches of the H. heidelbergensis tree.
Homo neanderthalensis retained most of the features of H. heidelbergensis after its divergent evolution. Though shorter, Neanderthals were more robust, had large brow-ridges, a slightly protruding face and lack of prominent chin. They also had a larger brain than all other hominins. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, has the smallest brows of any known hominin, was tall and lanky, and had a flat face with a protruding chin. H. sapiens has a larger brain than H. heidelbergensis, and a smaller brain than H. neanderthalensis, on average. To date, H. sapiens is the only known hominin with a high forehead, flat face, and thin, flat brows.
Some believe that
H. heidelbergensis is a distinct 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. neanderthalensis
- H. heidelbergensis > H. rhodesiensis > H. sapiens idaltu > H sapiens sapiens
Those supporting a
multiregional origin of modern humans envision fertile reproduction between many evolutionary stages and
homo walking, or gene transfer between adjacent populations due to gene passage and spreading in successive generations.
Discovery
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 jaw (
Mauer 1) was in good condition except for the missing premolar teeth, which were eventually found near the jaw. 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. A partial leg bone is dated to between 478,000 and 524,000 years old.
H. 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. Prior to
Gran Dolina, Boxgrove offered the earliest hominid occupants in Europe.
The tibia had been gnawed by a large carnivore, suggesting that he had been killed by a lion or wolf or that his unburied corpse had been scavenged after death.
Sima de los Huesos
Beginning in 1997, a
Spanish team has located more than 5,500 human bones dated to an age of at least 350,000 years in the Sima de los Huesos site in the Sierra de
Atapuerca in northern Spain. 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. Ninety percent of the known
H. heidelbergensis remains have been obtained from this site. The fossil pit bones include:
- A complete cranium (Skull 5), nicknamed Miguelón, and fragments of other craniums, such as Skull 4, nicknamed Agamenón and skull 6, nicknamed Rui (from El Cid, a local hero).
- Mandibles, teeth, and many postcranial bones (femurs, hand and foot bones, vertebrae, ribs, etc.)
Indeed, nearby sites contain the only known and controversial
Homo antecessor fossils.
See also
