Homo erectus was more sophisticated than we thought and was able to survive an extreme climate.

BarcelonaThe first fossils ofHomo erectus were discovered on the island of Java in the late 19th century. Since then, more have appeared in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. And the more we know, the more similarities are found between this robust, lung-capacity species and modern hominids. The latest research confirms thatHomo erectus, which inhabited the Earth between two million years ago and the end of the Pleistocene, was more intelligent and much more adept at adapting and surviving in different environments and in a changing world than previously thought.

A new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, in which researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-BÚSQUEDA) participated, shows that theHomo sapiens It is not the only one that was able to adapt and survive extreme climates. The study, which has analyzed more than 22,000 tools from the Engaji Nanyori site, in the Oldupai Gorges (Tanzania), indicates that theHomo erectus It was able to survive in a landscape dominated by desert and steppes, sparse vegetation, and recurring periods of fire in East Africa. It achieved this thanks to its ability to take advantage of the scarce natural resources available. "Our vision has changed radically in recent decades, and we are increasingly finding more similarities and humanizing the species that preceded us," explains Palmira Saladié, a researcher at IPHES-BÚSQUEDA, who led the zooarchaeological and taphonomic (fossilization process) analysis of the yacino.

Sophisticated tools

The tools are made of quartzite, were used primarily to process large herbivores, and come from materials extracted up to 13 kilometers from the site. "It's a great evolutionary leap, going from having very simple archaic tools to having pre-designed ones. They would take a pebble from a river and, before cutting, they already knew what shape they were looking for and why they would use it," Saladié points out.Homo erectus They prioritized hunting herbivores such as medium-sized bovids and antelopes, and they made the most of their tools, dismantling and extracting, for example, the marrow. One way they survived this extreme climate was by reoccupying strategic areas such as river confluences. "They were great surveyors. They lived in groups and were highly mobile; they could travel about 40 kilometers in a day, going back and forth to their point of origin, and had great endurance. Depending on the type of prey, they used persistence hunting," Saladié explains. Thus, they pursued small gazelles or antelopes until they were exhausted and gave up. They also had a great capacity to cool their own bodies.

The ability of theHomo erectus To survive, it was key to moving in and out of Africa and reaching Arabia and Europe. "The ability to manage resources efficiently and adapt to changing conditions offers a new perspective on how the geographic expansion of this species was configured," notes Julio Mercader of the University of Calgary and a researcher at IPHES-BÚSQUEDA. "This study not only expands its ecological range, but also establishes it as a species."