Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash, Ethiopia

Berhane Asfaw (), W. Henry Gilbert, Yonas Beyene, William K. Hart, Paul R. Renne, Giday WoldeGabriel, Elisabeth S. Vrba and Tim D. White
Additional contact information
Berhane Asfaw: Rift Valley Research Service
W. Henry Gilbert: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, VLSB, University of California
Yonas Beyene: Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture
William K. Hart: Miami University, Oxford
Paul R. Renne: Berkeley Geochronology Center
Giday WoldeGabriel: EES-6/MS D462 Los Alamos National Laboratory
Elisabeth S. Vrba: Yale University
Tim D. White: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, VLSB, University of California

Nature, 2002, vol. 416, issue 6878, 317-320

Abstract: Abstract The genesis, evolution and fate of Homo erectus have been explored palaeontologically since the taxon's recognition in the late nineteenth century. Current debate1 is focused on whether early representatives from Kenya and Georgia should be classified as a separate ancestral species (‘H. ergaster’)2,3,4, and whether H. erectus was an exclusively Asian species lineage that went extinct5,6. Lack of resolution of these issues has obscured the place of H. erectus in human evolution. A hominid calvaria and postcranial remains recently recovered from the Dakanihylo Member of the Bouri Formation, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, bear directly on these issues. These ∼1.0-million-year (Myr)-old Pleistocene sediments contain abundant early Acheulean stone tools and a diverse vertebrate fauna that indicates a predominantly savannah environment. Here we report that the ‘Daka’ calvaria's metric and morphological attributes centre it firmly within H. erectus. Daka's resemblance to Asian counterparts indicates that the early African and Eurasian fossil hominids represent demes of a widespread palaeospecies. Daka's anatomical intermediacy between earlier and later African fossils provides evidence of evolutionary change. Its temporal and geographic position indicates that African H. erectus was the ancestor of Homo sapiens.

Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.1038/416317a

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