Everything about Homo Ergaster totally explained
Homo ergaster ("working man") is an extinct
hominid 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. ergaster may be distinguished from
H. erectus by its thinner skull bones and lack of an obvious
sulcus. Derived features include reduced
sexual dimorphism; a smaller, more orthognathic (straight jawed) face; a smaller dental arcade; and a larger (700 and 850
cm³)
cranial capacity. It is estimated that
H. ergaster stood at 1.9 m (6ft3) tall with relatively less sexual dimorphism in comparison to earlier
hominins. 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. Paleanthropologists
Richard Leakey,
Kamoya Kimeu and
Tim White 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; the species was named by
Groves and
Mazak 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's 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.
Notable fossils
Further Information
Get more info on 'Homo Ergaster'.
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