The Evolution of Homo Erectus: Comparative Anatomical Studies of an Extinct Human Species

270 Pages·1990·10.19 MB·English

by  G. Philip Rightmire

THE EVOLUTION OF HOMO ERECTUS
COMPARATIVE ANATOMICAL STUDIES OF
AN EXTINCT HUMAN SPECIES

THE EVOLUTION
OF HOMO ERECTUS
COMPARATIVE ANATOMICAL STUDIES
OF AN EXTINCT
HUMAN SPECIES
G. Philip Rightmire
Department of Anthropology
State University of New York at Binghamton
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521308809
© Cambridge University Press 1990
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1990
First paperback edition 1993
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Rightmire, G. Philip.
The evolution of Homo erectus: comparative anatomical studies on
an extinct human species / G. Philip Rightmire.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0 521 30880 1 (hbk) ISBN 0 521 44998 7 (pbk)
1. Pithecanthropus erectus. I. Title.
GN284.R54 1990
573.3—dc20 89-70814 CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-30880-9 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-30880-1 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521 -44998-4 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-44998-7 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2005
CONTENTS
Preface page ix
1 Introduction i
Approaches to the hominid record 2
Character selection and anatomical terminology 3
Measurements 4
The hominid inventory 5
Plan of the study 7
2 Homo erectus in the Far East 10
Stratigraphy and dating of the Javanese localities 12
The Trinil cranium 14
Trinil postcranial remains 16
The Sangiran crania 16
Sangiran 2 17
Sangiran 4 20
Sangiran 10 24
Sangiran 12 26
Sangiran 17 28
The Sangiran mandibles 32
Sangiran ib 32
The Sambungmachan braincase 34
The Ngandong crania 38
Ngandong 1 38
Ngandong 3 41
Ngandong 6 42
Ngandong 7 45
vi Contents
Ngandong 10 48
Ngandongn 50
Ngandong 12 50
Sorting the fossils into lineages 52
3 Homo erectus at Olduvai Gorge 57
Stratigraphy and dating of the Olduvai deposits 57
The Olduvai Hominid 9 braincase 59
Preservation of the specimen 59
The frontal bone and nasal region 60
Lateral aspect of the cranium 61
The occiput and cranial base 64
The glenoid cavity 67
The tympanic plate and petrous temporal 68
The interior of the braincase 69
Olduvai Hominid 12 70
The Olduvai mandibles 73
Olduvai Hominid 22 73
Olduvai Hominid 23 79
Olduvai Hominid 51 80
Size differences and sexual dimorphism 82
Postcranial bones from Bed IV 84
4 Discoveries from the Turkana basin and other localities in
sub-Saharan Africa 86
Localities east of Lake Turkana 88
Geological setting 88
The East Turkana crania 89
The KNM-ER 3733 cranium 90
The KNM-ER 3883 cranium 95
The KNM-ER 730 cranial fragments 98
Additional cranial remains 99
The East Turkana mandibles 100
The KNM-ER 730 mandible 100
The KNM-ER 992 mandible 103
Additional mandibular remains 107
The East Turkana postcranial bones 107
Discoveries west of Lake Turkana 111
Questions concerning sorting of the Turkana hominids 111
The mandibles from Lake Baringo 113
The KNM-BK 8518 jaw 114
Homo erectus in South Africa 116
The SK 15 jaw 117
Contents vii
5 Northwest Africa 119
Stratigraphy and dating 120
The Ternifine remains 121
Ternifine 1 121
Ternifine 2 126
Ternifine 3 128
Ternifine 4 129
Variation in the Ternifine assemblage 130
Remains from Thomas Quarries and Sidi Abderrahman 131
Sidi Abderrahman 134
The Sale braincase 135
6 Comparisons of African hominids with Asian Homo erectus 138
Crania from East and northwest Africa compared to Trinil 2 and
the smaller Sangiran hominids 139
The supraorbital region and the frontal squama 141
Measurements of the frontal bone and parietal vault 142
The cranium in lateral view 146
Morphology of the occipital bone 148
Comparisons of occipital proportions 149
The glenoid cavity and tympanic plate 151
Olduvai Hominid 12 152
Olduvai Hominid 9 and the larger Indonesian crania 153
Supraorbital anatomy 154
Proportions of the frontal bone and midvault 155
The cranium in lateral view 158
The occiput and cranial base 159
Olduvai Hominid 9 and the Zhoukoudian specimens 163
The Olduvai and Zhoukoudian mandibles 167
The mandibles from Ternifine 171
Discussion 172
Sorting the fossils 172
The anatomy of Homo erectus 175
7 Homo erectus as a paleospecies 180
Species in the fossil record 181
Paleospecies as discrete entities 183
Definitions of Homo erectus 186
Diagnosing the taxon 188
Trends in Homo erectus 191
Chronological frameworks 191
Evolution of the brain 193
viii Contents
Other dimensions of the cranium 197
The mandible and dentition 199
Current status of Homo erectus 201
8 The transition to more modern forms 204
The hominid from Lake Ndutu 206
The Broken Hill assemblage 211
Petralona 214
The Arago remains 218
The cranium 219
Lower jaws 220
Sorting the specimens: one species or several 224
The African record 224
Europe 225
How many lineages? 226
Characters defining later Middle Pleistocene Homo 229
Trends in brain size 230
9 Summary and prospects for further research 234
References 239
Author index 251
Subject index 254
PREFACE
My enthusiasm for Homo erectus dates from 1977, when I began the
task of preparing anatomical descriptions for several of the crania
from Olduvai Gorge. After working on the fine braincase from LLK
in Bed II, I decided to review all of the Olduvai fossils that might be
representative of the same species. Inevitably, this led to comparisons
of the Olduvai crania and jaws with other East African specimens
and later with the mandibles from Ternifine in northwest Africa. By
1980, it was clear that the project would go beyond Africa and grow
into much more than a monograph on the Olduvai remains. After
spending several months in Indonesia in 1981,1 reorganized all of the
notes that were accumulating, so as to make the Asian record a prin-
cipal focus of research. Slowly, the book assumed its present outline,
in which the famous Java finds are treated first, followed by a system-
atic survey of all the other fossils attributed to Homo erectus. The
Middle Pleistocene material from Europe will be conspicuous by its
absence. The complete cranium from Petralona and the Arago speci-
mens are not included in my roster of Homo erectus^ but I have
brought them into a later part of my discussion, along with other
Middle Pleistocene hominids from Africa. To this extent, the book
tracks the transition from Homo erectus to a more advanced form of
human. How this change occurred is certainly one of the more chal-
lenging questions facing paleoanthropologists.
A good deal of my text is devoted to anatomy, and there are many
references to facial architecture, vault shape, and prominences or tori
IX
x Preface
of the lower jaw. These parts of the Homo erectus skeleton have most
often turned up as fossils, and they provide the basis for comparative
study. Only by interpreting the bones can we learn enough about
these extinct hominids to document their evolutionary history. An
unavoidable consequence of this emphasis on details of form is that
parts of the book will be heavy going. I have tried to make the mater-
ial clear and concise, but readers will benefit from prior experience
with basic human structure. This is not a text for introductory
classes. Nevertheless, it should be useful to more advanced students
and to others concerned with the hard evidence for human evolution.
Without the generous assistance of friends and colleagues, I would
never have been able to complete this project. Many have helped,
over the span of more than a decade. Mary Leakey encouraged me to
undertake the initial studies of the Olduvai fossils. Richard Leakey
gave me access to important specimens and provided laboratory facil-
ities in the Kenya National Museums. I am grateful for this support
in Nairobi and for opportunities to visit Koobi Fora and sites else-
where in the Turkana basin. Emma Mbua and other members of the
Museum staff also helped me in Nairobi, as did Andrew Hill, Louis
Jacobs, Martin Pickford, Karen Bell and Hazel Potgeiter. The
government of Kenya gave me clearance to carry out my research
program.
In Dar es Salaam, Fidel Masao welcomed me at the National
Museums of Tanzania. Officers of the Division of Antiquities and
members of the faculty of the University of Dar es Salaam assisted me
on several occasions, and I thank particularly A.A. Mturi, S. Waane
and C.C. Magori. The government of Tanzania allowed me to study
the Olduvai remains and the cranium from Lake Ndutu.
For access to the Swartkrans hominids and help at the Transvaal
Museum, I am grateful to C.K. Brain, Alan Turner, and David
Panagos. Permission to work on fossils from Ternifine and sites in
Morocco was given by the Institut de Paleontologie of the Museum
National d'Histoire Naturelle, the Institut de Paleontologie
Humaine, the Laboratoire de Paleontologie des Vertebres et Paleon-
tologie Humaine of the Universite de Paris VI, and the Musee de
l'Homme. Persons in Paris who offered me their time, professional
expertise and hospitality include Herbert Thomas, the late J.P.
Lehman, V. Eisenmann, Jean-Louis Heim, Jean-Jacques Hublin,
Jean-Jacques Jaeger, Anne-Marie Tillier, Yves Coppens and M.