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Research Upon Ancient Humans

(Archaic Humans)

A number of varieties of Homo are grouped into the

broad category of archaic humans in the period that
precedes and is contemporary to the emergence of the
earliest early modern humans (Homo sapiens) around
300,000 years ago. Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) from
southern Ethiopia (196,000 ± 5,000 years ago) and the
remains from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco (about 315,000 years
ago) and Florisbad in South Africa (259,000 years ago) are
among the earliest remains of Homo sapiens. The term
typically includes Homo neanderthalensis (430,000 ± 25,000
years ago), Denisovans, Homo rhodesiensis (300,000 –
125,000 years ago), Homo heidelbergensis (600,000 –
200,000 years ago), Homo naledi, Homo ergaster, and Homo
antecessor.

Archaic humans had a brain size averaging 1,200 -1,400

cubic centimetres (cm3), which overlaps with the range of
modern humans. They are distinguished from anatomically
modern humans by having a thick skull,
prominent supraorbital ridges (brow ridges) and the lack of a
prominent chin.
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Anatomically modern humans appear around 300,000

years ago in Africa, and 70,000 years ago gradually
supplanting the archaic human varieties. Non-modern
varieties of Homo are certain to have survived until after
30,000 years ago, and perhaps until as recently as 12,000
years ago. Nonetheless, according to recent genetic
studies, modern humans may have bred with at least two
groups of ancient humans: Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Different species of Archaic Humans

 Homo neanderthalensis:-
Neanderthals also Neandertals, Homo
neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis are an
extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived
in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. They most likely went
extinct due to assimilation into the modern human genome
(bred into extinction), great climatic change, disease, or a
combination of these factors. They were fully replaced
by early European modern humans.

 Denisovans:-
The Denisovans or Denisova hominins are
an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that
ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic
eras. Denisovans are known from few remains, and,
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consequently, most of what is known about them comes

from DNA evidence.

 Homo Rhodesiensis:-
Homo rhodesiensis is the species name to classify Kabwe
1 (the "Kabwe skull" or "Broken Hill skull", also "Rhodesian
Man"), which is a Middle Stone Age fossil recovered from a
cave at Broken Hill, or Kabwe, Northern
Rhodesia (now Zambia). In 2020, the skull was dated to
324,000 to 274,000 years ago.

 Homo heidelbergensis:-
Homo heidelbergensis (also H. sapiens heidelbergensis) is an
extinct species or subspecies of the archaichumans which
existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a
subspecies of H. erectus in 1950 as H. e. heidelbergensis, but
towards the end of the century, it was more widely classified
as its own species.

 Homo Naledi:-
Homo naledi is a species of the archaic humans discovered in
the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa
dating to the Middle Pleistocene era 335,000 –236,000 years
ago. The initial discovery comprises 1,550 specimens,
representing 737 different elements, and at least 15 different
individuals.
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 Homo Ergaster:-
Homo ergaster is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic
humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene era.
Proponents of synonymisation typically designate H.
ergaster as "African Homo erectus" or "Homo erectus
ergaster". The name Homo ergaster roughly translates to
"working man", a reference to the more advanced tools used
by the species in comparison to those of their ancestors. The
fossil range of H. ergaster mainly covers the period of 1.7 to
1.4 million years ago, though a broader time range is
possible. Though fossils are known from across East and
Southern Africa, most H. ergaster fossils have been found
along the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. There are later
African fossils, some younger than 1 million years ago, that
indicate long-term anatomical continuity. As
a chronospecies, H. ergaster may have persisted to as late as
600,000 years ago, when new lineages of Homo arose in
Africa.

 Homo Antecessor
Homo antecessor (Latin "pioneer") is an archaic
human species recorded in the Spanish Sierra de
Atapuerca from 1.2 to 0.8 million years ago during the Early
Pleistocene era. Populations may have been present
elsewhere in Western Europe, and were among the first to
colonise that region of the world. The first fossils were found
in the Gran Dolina cave in 1994, and the species was
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formally described in 1997 as the last common ancestor of

modern humans and Neanderthals, supplanting the
popular H. heidelbergensis in this function. H. antecessor has
since been reinterpreted as merely an offshoot, though
probably one branching off just before the modern
humans/Neanderthals split.

- Dhairya Rakesh Jain 5-3 Roll no. 16