Pimentel, Pauline Luz Archaeo 2

Quintero, Ramon Paolo Research Paper First Draft

Quimora, Frances Anne


A Study on the Hominids of Asia
The Hominids of Asia. Charles Darwin predicted on his book, The Descent of Man and
Selection in Relation to Sex, that humans evolved in Africa, a theory which was strengthened
by a significant number of fossil finds from East Africa from the 1950s to the 1970s. However,
before those discoveries were made, it was believed that modern humans started evolving in
Asia, and then dispersed westward to Africa and Europe.
Most of the fossil finds in the Asian continent are attributed to a particular species of
hominids known as Homo Erectus. The origin of this species may be traced back to Africa,
where the remains of a separate species, the Homo Ergaster was discovered. Today, it is widely
accepted that the latter was a progenitor of more advanced hominids, such as the Homo
neanderthalis and Homo heidelbergensis, primarily from Europe, and the Homo Erectus of Asia.
(Harazika, 2007)
The first account of the Homo Erectus was that of Eugene Dubois on the island of
Java, Indonesia in 1891. The find consisted of a flat skullcap and a few teeth. The find was not
accepted widely by experts at first, dismissing the find as that of a primate; however, a year later,
a femur was found about 12 meters away from the original site which confirmed Dubois
account. (Theunissen, 1989) These finds were attributed to the Homo Erectus Erectus, more
commonly known as the Java Man, with an age of about 700 kya.
Many other subspecies of Homo Erectus were discovered in Asia, during the past
century. From 1929 to 1937, numerous fossil remains were discovered in a cave near Beijing,
China, which were attributed to the hominid Homo Erectus pekinensis, more commonly known
as the Peking Man, whose remains are estimated to be 680-780 kya. (Shen, et al., 2009). In 1965,
a Chinese geologist named Fang Qian discovered two incisor remnants belonging to the Homo
Erectus yuanmouensis, dated about 170 kya. (Qian, et al., 1991) Fossil remains of the Homo
Erectus soloensis, found in the Bengawan Solo River in Java, Indonesia, which are dated about
140-550 kya.
In 2001, a portion of a skeleton was discovered in 2001 in Dmanisi, Georgia, which is
attributed to the Homo Erectus georgicus. (Rightmire, et al., 2006) The skull matched with that
of a H.e. ergaster; however, several fossils had different dimensions with the latter. Because of
this, the h.e. georgicus is considered to be the intermediate between h.e. ergaster and h.e.
erectus. (Tattersall, et al., 2009) In 2010, a finger bone fragment was discovered in the Denisova
Cave, Siberia, attributed to a separate species called Homo Denisova. Based from the fossil finds,
this species Using mitochondrial analysis, it was determined that
The hominids found in Asia can be compared with the hominids found in Africa. To
visualize this comparison, consider the figure below.

Each point in the plot above represents a hominid, characterized by its age and its cranial
capacity. The points nearer the y-axis are the hominids found in Asia, while those clustered on
the right of the plot are the hominids in Africa. An increasing, although non-continuous trend can
be seen. The brain size of the hominids found in Asia is significantly large; the Java man has a
cranial capacity of about 940 cc, while the Peking mans cranial capacity varies from 915 cc to
1225 cc. The brain size of the hominids discovered in Asia are larger compared to the
Australopethicus genus whose remains were found in the African continent; the brain size of
these hominids vary around 400 cc, about 35% of the size of the modern human brain. (Beck, et
al. 1999) Aside from the increasing trend of brain size, it was observed that the body size of the
African hominids is smaller than that of the Asian hominids. The difference between the tooth
size of the African and Asian hominids is significant, with the former being larger and sharper.
In a cultural perspective, The Asian hominids are more refined. The Homo Erectus was arguably
the first hominid to live in a hunter-gatherer society, which implies that their diet consisted of
mostly meat, unlike the Australopithecus, whose diet mainly consists of fruits and vegetables.
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Thousand years before present (kya)
Migration Routes. Paleoanthropologists investigated the existence of hominids in
various locations based on the assumption that everything under the genus Homo came from
Africa. H. ergaster was the first to leave Africa approximately 1.7-1.9 Mya, and their presence in
Asia was attributed to the migration. This was widely accepted by paleoanthropologists, and
many attempts to model the dispersal of hominids had the idea of everything coming from Africa
in mind.
The physique of H. ergaster, however, was different from previous forms of Homo, in
that there is difference in their stature, the length of the limbs, the body proportions and sexual
dimorphism. These traits were rationalized to be optimal for walking through tall savannah
grasslands under the heat of the sun, and surviving through consuming the meat of the local
fauna. Be that as it may, the difference in the physical attributes of H. ergaster makes it difficult
to pinpoint the connection to possible ancestors.
The earliest dispersal of hominids from Africa to Asia is still uncertain, as there has yet to
be solid evidence of the path the hominids took to get there. It was assumed that hominids
migrated along the Nile Valley or across the Red Sea, but there is a lack of archaeological
evidence to support these. There were no hominid fossils in the Nile Valley in the Lower
Pleistocene, and no Oldowan sites near the Nile Valley and southwest Saudi Arabia, the
landmass across the Red Sea from Africa. The only Asian Early Pleistocene fossil remains were
three incisors found in Ubeidiya, Israel, dated 1.41.0 Mya, and categorized under H. erectus
coming from Africa.
A very early type of H. ergaster, however, was found in Dmanisi Georgia. The
excavation yielded hominid fossils, vertebrate fauna and Oldowan stone artifacts. The site was
occupied roughly 1.85 Mya 1.77 Mya.
[1][2]
The Dmanisi hominid is classified in a new taxon, H.
georgicus.
There are more Early Pleistocene artefacts, some of which are found in Erq el-Ahmar,
Israel and the Nihewan basin in China. Because of the assumption made that all hominid
migrated from Africa, however, the stone tools found in Asia were automatically thought to have
come from them.
The question of who came to Asia first once again arises. H. ergaster were said to have
thrived in the savannah grasslands because their physique gave them the advantage. This
advantage was said to have been utilized to move from Africa to Asia and they became the first
hominids in that side of the world at 1.7 Mya1.9 Mya. However, Australopithecus garhi, who
existed approximately 2.5 Mya, had thrived in a very similar environment in East Africa.
Savannah grasslands were extensive across southern Asia by then, so there wouldnt be anything
stopping them from expanding to the Asian grasslands before the H. ergaster.
Fossil evidence of the presence of H. ergaster in Asia in the Early Pleistocene is also
questionable. The Early Pleistocene Javan hominids classification is still undecided. Should it
be H. erectus sensu stricto (from East Asia)? Should it be H. erectus sensu lato (from Africa)? Or
is it a composite of both? There are also unknowns surrounding the ancestry of H. floresiensis, as
well as the Dmanisi hominids, due to the difference in their morphologies.
There is no evidence to support the migration of australopithecines to Asia, though there
is no evidence against it either. There are only few places where remains of fauna that can be
linked to hominids are found. One such place is the Late Pliocene assemblage in Betlehem.
Though small, the assemblage is dominated by animals weighing more than the average
hominid.
[1]
The earliest fossil hominid in Asia is in Middle Pleistocene was found in Narmada
Valley, India. A partial cranium and a clavicle of H. erectus was found in the area, as well as
tools and sites that date back to the Late Acheulian to Middle Pleistocene.
[3]

A possible approach to take is the migration of hominids from Asia to Africa. While
there is yet any evidence to support this, it is possible that australopithecines migrated from
Africa to Asia, evolved and later dispersed, some of them migrating back to Africa. This allows
the possibility that H. ergaster evolved in Asia, explaining the striking difference in its
morphology to hominids like H. habilis. This also explains the lack of apparent ancestry with
some hominid specimens found in Asia.
[1]
Conclusion


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