The Earliest African Emigrants

1. The Earliest African Emigrants Why they left is a mystery A greater range of physical variation in specimens outside of Africa at about 1.8 mya Into Java, Indonesia by 1.6 mya Equates to less than 200,000 years to travel from East Africa to Southeast Asia

2. The Dmanisi Hominins The discovery of the Dmanisi materials in the Republic of Georgia began in the early 1990s. The most informative specimens are four well-preserved crania, with one recently discovered being almost complete. The remains are the best-preserved hominins of this age found anywhere outside of Africa.

3. The Dmanisi Hominins The most complete specimen has a less robust and thinner browridge, a projecting lower face, and a large upper canine. All three Dmanisi crania have small cranial capacities. A number of stone tools, similar to Olduwan industry from Africa, have been recovered at Dmanisi. Remains from four individuals allows comparisons with H. erectus from other areas

4. Dmanisi Diagnostic Characteristics Estimated height ranging from ca 4 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 5 inches, smaller than full H. erectus specimens from East Africa or Asia Body proportions, however, similar to H. erectus (and H. sapiens) and different from earlier hominins

5. Possibilities Raised by the Dmansi Discoveries First hominins to leave Africa were small-bodied early form of H. erectus, with smaller brains than later forms and carrying a typical African Oldowan stone tool culture These hominins had none of the adaptations hypothesized to be essential to hominin migration: tall and relative large brains Perhaps two migrations out of Africa at the time: small-brained, short-statured Dmanisi hominins and large, robust body build of H. erectus populations of Java and China

6. Homo Erectus from Indonesia • Six sites in eastern Java, dating from 1.6 mya to 1 mya, during the Early to Middle Pleistocene. • The Ngandong individuals date from 27,000 ya. • Homo erectus Soloiensus (“Solo man”) formerly classified as Homo Sapiens

7. Homo erectus from China 40 male and female adults and children near Beijing, at Zhoukoudian, excavated beginning in 1920’s. 14 skullcaps, other cranial pieces, more than 100 isolated teeth, and scattering of postcranial remains Formerly called “Peking Man” or Homo erectus Pekinensis

8. European specimens • Atapuerca region in northern Spain, 1.2 mya • partial jaw with few teeth;closely resembles Dmanisi fossils; simple flake tools and animal bones • Gran Dolina, dated to appx 850,000-780,000 ya • Assigning the fossils to a particular species is problematic, based on the fragmentary nature of the remains • Spanish paleoanthropologists place these hominins into a species called Homo antecessor

9. Homo erectus Timeline

10. Acheulian Biface • Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains. • Lower to Middle Pleistocene • A basic tool of the Acheulian tradition. • Acheulian tool kits are common in Africa, southwest Asia, and western Europe, but they’re thought to be less common elsewhere.