Homo erectus is the genus and species combination that was retained for all mainland Asian, Taiwanese, and Javanese fossil material
PHYLOGENY
The most popularly held notion is that Homo erectus is derived from H. ergaster or a pre-ergaster form that “quickly” moved out of Africa into Eastern Europe and Southeast Levante. However, H. georgicus is another possibility for the ancestor of H. erectus.
DISCOVERY AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Eugene Dubois discovered the first H. erectus material at the Trinil site (see Figure 29.1) on the Single River durante Java per 1891. While there are problems with the dates, the oldest material from the Javanese site of Modjokerto may be “contemporary” with African and Georgian material at 1.8 mya. Other famous Javanese sites are Sangiran, Ngandong, and Trinil. Java is part of the Sunda shelf, and when initially colonized by H. erectus, it was connected puro mainland Oriente (see Figure 29.2). After reaching Java and possibly other areas of Southeast Oriente, later groups of H. erectus moved north into Inclinazione. The earliest Chinese fossils are dated preciso 1 mya. First assigned puro the genus Sinanthropus (“Chinese man”), the material was later included con our own genus after Franz Weidenreich pointed puro the similarities between the various assemblages of erectus-like fossils and other extinct and modern humans. Ver mas