190 CHAPTER 8 | Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
of one or a very few individuals. The fossils from Sierra
de Atapuerca in northern Spain (pictured in the chapter
opener), are the only ones to exist as a population. Dated
to 400,000 years ago,^25 the remains of at least twenty-
eight individuals of both sexes and of various ages were
deliberately dumped (after defleshing their skulls) by
their contemporaries into a deep cave shaft known today
as Sima de los Huesos (“Pit of the Bones”). The presence
of animal bones in the same pit with humans raises the
possibility that early humans simply used the site as a
dump. Alternatively, the treatment of the dead at Ata-
puerca may have involved ritual activity that presaged
burial of the dead, a practice that became common after
100,000 years ago.
As with any population, this one displays a significant
degree of variation. Cranial capacity, for example, ranges
from 1,125 to 1,390 cc, overlapping the upper end of the
range for H. erectus and the average size of H. sapiens
(1,300 cc). Overall, the bones display a mix of features,
some typical of H. erectus, others of H. sapiens, includ-
ing some incipient Neandertal characteristics. Despite
this variation, the sample appears to show no more sexual
dimorphism than displayed by modern humans.^26
Other remains from Africa and Europe dating 200,000
to 400,000 years ago have shown a combination of H. erectus
and H. sapiens features. Some—such as skulls from Ndutu
in Tanzania, Swanscombe (England), and Steinheim
(Germany)—have been classified as H. sapiens, while oth-
ers—from Arago (France), Bilzingsleben (Germany), and
Petralona (Greece), and several African sites—have been
classified as H. erectus. Yet all have cranial capacities that
fit within the range exhibited by the Sima de los Huesos
skulls, which are classified as H. antecessor.
Comparisons of these skulls to those of living peo-
ple or to H. erectus reflect their transitional nature. The
Swanscombe and Steinheim skulls are large and robust, with
their maximum breadth lower on the skull, more prominent
brow ridges, larger faces, and bigger teeth. Similarly, the
face of the Petralona skull from Greece resembles European
Neandertals, while the back of the skull looks like H. erectus.
Conversely, a skull from Salé in Morocco, which had a
rather small brain for H. sapiens (930–960 cc), looks sur-
prisingly modern from the back. Finally, various jaws from
France and Morocco (in northern Africa) seem to com-
bine features of H. erectus with those of the later EuropeanWith H. erectus, then, we find a clearer manifestation of
the interplay among cultural, physical, and environmental
factors than ever before. However slowly, social organiza-
tion, technology, and communication developed in tan-
dem with an increase in brain size and complexity. In fact,
the cranial capacity of late H. erectus is 31 percent greater
than the mean for early H. erectus, a rate of increase more
rapid than the average fossil vertebrate rate.^24
Archaic Homo sapiens and
the Appearance of Modern-
Sized Brains
Fossils from a number of sites in Africa, Asia, and
Europe, dated to between 200,000 and 400,000 years
ago, indicate that by this time cranial capacity reached
modern proportions. Most fossil finds consist of parts
Homo sapiensHYPOGLOSSAL
CANALHypoglossal
nerveChimpanzeeFigure 8.8 The size of the hypoglossal canal is much larger in
humans than in chimpanzees. The nerve that passes through
this canal controls tongue movement, and complex tongue
movements are involved in spoken language. All members
of the genus Homo after about 500,000 years ago have an
enlarged hypoglossal canal.
(^24) Wolpoff, M. H. (1993). Evolution in Homo erectus: The question of stasis.
In R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The human evolution source book
(p. 396). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
(^25) Parés, J. M., et al. (2000). On the age of hominid fossils at the Sima de
los Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain: Paleomagnetic evidence. American
Journal of Physical Anthropology 111, 451–461.
(^26) Lorenzo, C., et al. (1998). Intrapopulational body size variation and
cranial capacity variation in middle Pleistocene humans: The Sima de los
Huesos sample (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). American Journal of Physical
Anthropology 106, 30.