Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

Selected Examples of Homo heidelbergensis
and Related Human Sites
Approximate
age (thousand
Sites Country years ago)
Sites possibly intermediate between Homo ergaster
and H. heidelbergensis:
Dmanisi Georgian Republic 1,800
’Ubeidiya Jordan 1,000
Ceprano Italy 800
Gran Dolina Spain 780
Homo heidelbergensis sites:
Boxgrove England 500
Mauer (Heidelberg) Germany 500
Terra Amata France 400
Menez-Dregan France 400
Bilzingsleben Germany 400
Terefine Algeria 400
Vértesszöllös Hungary 350
Schöningen Germany 350
Sites possibly intermediate between H. heidelbergensis
and H. neanderthalensis:
Arago France 450
Sima de los Huesos Spain 400
Swanscombe England 250
Steinheim Germany 200
Petralona Greece 200
LaChaise-Suard France 200
Fontéchevade France 200
Baude l’Aubesier France 200
Brache-Saint-Vaast France 200
Pontnewydd Wales 200
Ehringsdorf Germany 200
Altamura Italy 200
Krapina Croatia 120
Saccopastore Italy 120
Sites possibly intermediate between H. heidelbergensis
and H. sapiens:
Bodo Ethiopia 600
Sterkfontein South Africa 250
Berekhat Ram Syria/Israel 230
Kabwe Zambia 175
probably represent a primitive form of hygienic disposal. Their
descendants, the Neandertals, dug shallow graves for dead individuals.
(See the table for examples of possible intermediates
between H. heidelbergensis and Neandertals.)
Homo heidelbergensis
Some of the H. heidelbergensis populations that
remained in Africa evolved into Homo sapiens. Skeletal
remains of individuals intermediate between H. heidelbergensis
and H. sapiens have been found in Africa, such as the
Kabwe skull (see missing links). (See the table for examples
of possible intermediates between H. heidelbergensis and
modern humans.)
Some of the artifacts of H. heidelbergensis suggest a technology
intermediate between H. ergaster and their evolutionary
descendants (Neandertals and modern humans):
• The Acheulean stone tools (named after St. Acheul in
France, an early site of their discovery) resemble those of
late H. ergaster.
• At least in Europe, H. heidelbergensis made wooden
spears. If they were hunters, they must have had cooperation
and advanced social structure. At a coal mine near
Schöningen in Germany in 1994, anthropologist Hartmut
Thieme found a stick, from the H. heidelbergensis
period, that had been sharpened at both ends. Less than
two weeks remained before the coal company planned to
use a rotor digger on the site. Thieme’s discovery allowed
him to get permission to excavate for another year. He
found three fire-hardened wooden javelins, each over
six feet (2 m) in length, each made from the trunk of a
spruce sapling. They were 350,000–400,000 years old.
They were too flimsy to be spears used for thrusting, and
their aerodynamically advanced shape suggested that
they were thrown. Nearby bones suggest that horses were
the prey. At a site near Lehringen, also in Germany, a
125,000-year-old spear was found embedded in elephant
ribs. Spears have also been found at the Bilzingsleben
site.
• The production of art by H. heidelbergensis is controversial.
Some anthropologists consider a small rock found at
Berekhat Ram in the Golan Heights between Syria and
Israel to be a female figurine, while others consider it to be
just a rock that happens to look like a figure.
H. heidelbergensis also constructed huts and made use of
fire. The Terra Amata site in France provides evidence that
humans may have created large oval huts by bending saplings
over and tying them together at the top. While the use of fire
by H. ergaster is controversial, there is no doubt that H. heidelbergensis
had mastered the control of fire. There is evidence
of the controlled use of fire 790,000 years ago in what
is now Israel, and hearths inside of huts have been found
from Terra Amata and Bilzingsleben.
Further Reading
Arsuaga, Juan Luis. The Neanderthal’s Necklace: In Search of the
First Thinkers. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001.
Goren-Inbar, Naama, et al. “Evidence of hominin control of fire at
Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel.” Science 304 (2004): 725–727.
Klein, Richard G., and Blake Edgar. The Dawn of Culture: A Bold
New Theory on What Sparked the “Big Bang” of Human Consciousness.
New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2002.
Tattersall, Ian, and Jeffrey Schwartz. Extinct Humans. New York:
Westview, 2000.