Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis

This species is often also referred to as "Archaic Homo Sapiens". Many examples of so-called Archaic Homo sapiens have been located, including some recent spectacular finds at Atapuerca, in North East Spain. These remains of many individuals include some that may be 780,000 years old. According to some proponents of the "Out of Africa" hypothesis, most of these speciments should be assigned to Homo heidelbergensis, which may have been ancestral to Neanderthals in Europe and to Homo sapiens in Africa. However, in May 1997, the discoverers of the fossils elected to name the fossils a new species, Homo antecessor. Multiregionalists view this group as evidence of a transition toward modern Homo sapiens.

Excavation of the site The "Mauer mandible", found in 1907 and dated at roughly 500,000 years old, combines primitive features (robusticity) with modern features (molar size), was given the species name Homo heidelbergensis in 1908. Some major findings of this species may be located at Atapuerca in Northern Spain where one of the most spectacular dings of recent times was made. They uncovered 1300 human fossils remains (representing 30 individuals) dated at 300,000 years old. These specimens also display modern and ancient features mixed, and can probably be assigned to Homo heidelbergensis.

The main noticable features of the fossils is the more prominent face and nose and the changes at the base of the skull which are perhaps thought to be associated with changes in the voice box.

Little is known so far about how this group fitted into the hominid timeline, but it is thought to have possibly evolved into Homo sapiens (perhaps with an intermittent species not yet found) and Homo neanderthalensis.

This table shows the morphological differences between Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis.

	H. heidelbergensis	H. neanderthalensis
Height	Roughly 1.5 metres	1.5 � 1.7 metres
Physique	Robust, but "human" skeleton	As H. heidelbergensis, but adapted for cold
Cranial Volume	1100 � 1400 cc	1200 � 1750 cc
Known Date	400,000 � 100,000	150,000 � 30,000
Distribution	Africa, Asia and Europe	Europe and Western Asia
Skull form	Higher skull; face less protruding	Reduced brow ridge; thinner skull; large nose: midface projection
Jaws/Teeth	Simliar to H. erectus, but teeth may be smaller	Simliar to H. heidelbergensis; teeth smaller except for incisors; chin development in some

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