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Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster

Homo erectus and Homo ergaster are two (or one, depending on who you talk to) of our hominin ancestors, and the sites associated with their skeletal materials hold the potential to resolve some of the important issues of human evolution.
Atapuerca (Spain)
The Sierra de Atapuerca is an ancient karst topography region of Spain, where several caves are located with evidence of very old occupations.
Bilzingsleben (Germany)
Bilzingsleben is a Lower Paleolithic open air site with fabulous preservation, located in in Thuringia, eastern Germany and dated between 320,000 and 412,000 years ago.
Bodo Cranium (Ethiopia)
The Bodo Cranium is a nearly complete hominin skull recovered from a site in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia.
Cave of Hearths
The Cave of Hearths is an Earlier Stone Age site in the Makapan Valley of South Africa. This page from the University of Southampton describes excavations there and features a database on handaxes from the site with pictures and measurements.
Chilhac (France)
Chilhac is the name of a karst cave in the Massif Central region of Auvergne, France, with an early hominid (probably Homo erectus) occupation.
Dali Cranium (China)
The Dali cranium is a Homo erectus skull found in 1978 in Jiefang Village, Dali County of Shaanxi Province, China
Darra-i-Kur (Afghanistan)
The cave called Darra-i-Kur is a Middle Paleolithic site in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan
Dmanisi (Georgia)
Dmanisi is located in the Caucusus region of southern Georgia, and it is to date the oldest Homo ergaster site identified on the planet.
Gran Dolina (Spain)
Gran Dolina is a cave site in the Sierra de Atapuerca region of Spain, where between five and six hominids were found dated to between 800,000 to 1 million years ago.
Homo Erectus Colonization in Europe
Geoarchaeologists working on the coast of the North Sea of Britain at Pakefield in Suffolk, England have discovered artifacts suggesting that Homo erectus arrived much earlier than previously thought.
Klasies River Caves (South Africa)
What does it mean to be human? Archaeological excavations at one of the earliest Homo sapiens site on the planet, the Klasies River Caves site in South Africa, teach us about our ancestors.
Little Lady of Flores
A different species of human walked this earth as recently as 18,000 years ago, long after Homo habilis, Homo erectus, even 10,000 years after the Neanderthals had died out. The Little Lady of Flores is shaking everybody's family tree.
Multi-Regional Hypothesis
The Multi-Regional Hypothesis argues that our earliest hominid ancestors radiated out from Africa and Homo sapiens evolved from several different groups of Homo erectus in several places throughout the world.
Nariokotome (Kenya)
The site of Nariokotome is located in the Lake Turkana region of Kenya, where the nearly complete skeleton of a boy between the ages of 11 and 13 and classified as Homo ergaster was found.
Ngangdong Hominids (Indonesia)
The Ngandong hominids were ancient skeletal remains of human ancestors found in Indonesia.
Olorgesailie (Kenya)
The archaeological site known as Olorgesailie is an Acheulean site in Kenya, East Africa, and dated to about 7.5-1 million years ago.
Orce Basin (Spain)
The Orce Basin in the AndalucĂ­a of Spain is noted for holding the earliest Homo erectus occurring in Europe, about 1.6 million years ago.
Peking Man (China)
The Homo erectus skull cap known as Peking Man was found in 1927 in the cave known as Zhoukoudian by the Chinese archaeologist W.C. Pei.
Peking Man Site, China
A report on the site findings, various excavations, and current interpretations from the Talk Origins site.
Sangiran (Java)
The Sangiran cave site, located on the island of Java, is a Homo erectus site excavated by R.G.H. von Koenigswald in 1936-1941.
Sinanthropus pekinsis (China)
The Homo erectus skull cap first called Sinanthropus pekinsis or Peking Man was found in 1927 in the cave known as Zhoukoudian by the Chinese archaeologist W.C. Pei.
Swartkrans (South Africa)
Swartkrans is a Lower Paleolithic cave site in South Africa, discovered in 1948 by Robert Broom and excavated by C.K. Brain in the 1960s.
Tauteval Cave (France)
The site of Tautavel Cave (also called Caune de l'Arago) is an ancient karst cave in the Tautavel valley of France containing over 40 very old occupations
Ternifine (Algeria)
Ternifine is an Acheulean site located near Palikao in the Oran region of Algeria, which contained hominin skeletal material, stone tools and theropithecus remains.
Trivia Quiz: Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster
o you know much about our immediate human ancestors, Homo erectus and Homo ergaster? Try this quiz and see.
Vallonet Cave (France)
Vallonet Cave is a paleolithic cave in the maritime Alps of southeastern France, near the Mediterranean coast near Nice.
Zhoukoudian, China
From UNESCO, a long description of the ancient Homo erectus site in China, where Pei Wenzhong discovered Peking Man.

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