{"id":216,"date":"2017-09-13T20:22:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-history-of-our-tribe\/chapter\/31-homo-antecessor\/"},"modified":"2017-10-03T16:22:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T16:22:58","slug":"31-homo-antecessor","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-history-of-our-tribe\/chapter\/31-homo-antecessor\/","title":{"raw":"31. Homo antecessor","rendered":"31. Homo antecessor"},"content":{"raw":"
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Homo antecessor<\/i> (1.2 mya)<\/b><\/h1>\r\n

(\u201csame\u201d \/ \u201cpredecessor\u201d or \u201cpioneer\u201d)<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_313\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"288\"]\"8.18\" Figure 31.1<\/em> Incomplete Homo antecessor skull from Gran Dolina, Spain.\u00a0\u201cHomo antecessor<\/a>\u201d by Jos\u00e9-Manuel Benito is in the public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
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SITES<\/b><\/h3>\r\nGran Dolina and Sima del Elefante, Spain\r\n

PEOPLE<\/b><\/h3>\r\nEudald Carbonell<\/a>, Juan Luis Arsuaga<\/a>, and J. M. Berm\u00fadez de Castro\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

INTRODUCTION<\/h2>\r\nUntil the recent discovery of hominin fossils dating to over 1.2 mya in the Atapuerca Mountains of Spain, the earliest known fossil material from the area was no more than 800 kya. The 800 kya material was assigned the taxonomic designation of Homo antecessor<\/i>, or \u201cPioneer Man,\u201d as the first hominins to have ranged into Western Europe.\r\n

PHYLOGENY<\/b><\/h2>\r\nSince its discovery, researchers have speculated that Homo antecessor<\/i> was descended from a more derived form of H. ergaster<\/i> that may have crossed the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa during a period of lowered sea levels. Now that the geological clock has been pushed back 300 kya, it is thought that they may have traveled through the Levant (i.e. the Eastern Mediterranean region). What is not known is whether the evolutionary event took place in Europe or North Africa. As far as descendant species, Homo antecessor <\/i>is one contender for the ancestor of Homo heidelbergensis<\/i> that in turn is thought to have given rise to neandertals and modern humans.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_314\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"715\"]\"image\" Figure 31.2\u00a0<\/em>Homo antecessor by Keenan Taylor.[\/caption]\r\n

DISCOVERY AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE<\/b><\/h2>\r\nThe species was discovered by Eudald Carbonell<\/a>, Juan Luis Arsuaga<\/a>, and J. M. Berm\u00fadez de Castro. The first site to yield fossil material was the Gran Dolina site (see Figure 31.4) in the Atapuerca mountain range in Spain. Dated to 900 kya, the site has yielded both H. antecessor<\/i> and H. heidelbergensis<\/i> material. Eighty fossils from six individuals\u00a0were recovered. It is of interest that much of the fossil material is immature and exhibits cut marks that may indicate that they were victims of cannibalism.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_266\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"750\"]\"image\" Figure 31.3\u00a0<\/em>\"Homo antecessor moves to Spain\" by Keenan Taylor.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe earliest H. antecessor<\/i> site is Sima del Elefante (\u201cPit of the Elephant\u201d). Dated to 1.2 mya, only a handful of fossils have been recovered from the site.\r\n\r\nIn addition to other sites in Spain, tools and footprints have been found in Happisburgh, England and Ceprano, Italy (also known as Homo cepranensis<\/i>, some consider it more closely related to H. heidelbergensis<\/i>).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_314\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1432\"]\"8.19\" Figure 31.4\u00a0<\/em>Gran Dolina site.\u00a0\u201cGran Dolina 2012 (Sierra de Atapuerca)<\/a>\u201d by Mario Modesto Mata is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS<\/b><\/h2>\r\nThe 800 kya H. antecessor<\/i> material was more derived than earlier erectus<\/i> forms, possessing a larger brain (1,000\u20131,150 cc) and a more modern skull and face. They had low foreheads and possessed an occipital bun<\/b> (a bun or chignon is the hairstyle wherein one winds long hair into a doughnut shape on the top or back of the head), as did neandertals (see neandertal features in Figure 31.5). It has been suggested that the purpose of that posterior protrusion is to balance the weight of the anterior portion of the skull and face. Based upon cranial anatomy, they are thought to have been capable of detecting the same range of sounds as modern humans and were possibly right-handed. They were almost as tall as modern humans at 5.5\u20136' (1.6\u20131.8 m), with males weighing ~200 lb (90\u00a0kg).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_315\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"896\"]\"8.20\" Figure 31.5\u00a0<\/em>Neandertal cranial characteristics.\u00a0\u201cNeanderthal cranial anatomy<\/a>\u201d by Jason Potter is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Review of Derived Characteristics<\/h3>\r\n