Temporal range: Early Pleistocene, 2.04/1.95–1.4/0.87 Ma
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KNM-ER 3733, a 1.6 million year old skull of Homo ergaster discovered in 1975 at Koobi Fora, Kenya
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Primates
Suborder:
Haplorhini
Infraorder:
Simiiformes
Family:
Hominidae
Subfamily:
Homininae
Tribe:
Hominini
Genus:
Homo
Species:
†H. ergaster
Binomial name
†Homo ergaster
Groves and Mazák, 1975
Synonyms
† Telanthropus capensis[1] Broom and Robinson, 1949 † Homo erectus ergaster (Groves and Mazák, 1975) †Homo louisleakeyi Kretzoi, 1984 † Homo kenyaensis Zeitoun, 2000 † Homo okotensis Zeitoun, 2000
Homo ergaster is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether H. ergaster constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into H. erectus is an ongoing and unresolved dispute within palaeoanthropology. Proponents of synonymisation typically designate H. ergaster as "African Homo erectus"[2] or "Homo erectus ergaster".[3] 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.[4] 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, though it is unclear if they can be formally regarded as H. ergaster specimens. As a chronospecies, H. ergaster may have persisted to as late as 600,000 years ago, when new lineages of Homo arose in Africa.
Those who believe H. ergaster should be subsumed into H. erectus consider there to be too little difference between the two to separate them into distinct species. Proponents of keeping the two species as distinct cite morphological differences between the African fossils and H. erectus fossils from Asia, as well as early Homo evolution being more complex than what is implied by subsuming species such as H. ergaster into H. erectus. Additionally, morphological differences between the specimens commonly seen as constituting H. ergaster might suggest that H. ergaster itself does not represent a cohesive species. Regardless of their most correct classification, H. ergaster exhibit primitive versions of traits later expressed in H. erectus and are thus likely the direct ancestors of later H. erectus populations in Asia. Additionally, H. ergaster is likely ancestral to later hominins in Europe and Africa, such as modern humans and Neanderthals.
Several features distinguish H. ergaster from australopithecines as well as earlier and more basal species of Homo, such as H. habilis. Among these features are their larger body mass, relatively long legs, obligate bipedalism, relatively small jaws and teeth (indicating a major change in diet) as well as body proportions and inferred lifestyles more similar to modern humans than to earlier and contemporary hominins. With these features in mind, some researchers view H. ergaster as being the earliest true representative of the genus Homo.
H. ergaster lived on the savannah in Africa, a unique environment with challenges that would have resulted in the need for many new and distinct behaviours. Earlier Homo probably used counter-attack tactics, like modern primates, to keep predators away. By the time of H. ergaster, this behaviour had probably resulted in the development of true hunter-gatherer behaviour, a first among primates. H. ergaster was an apex predator.[5] Further behaviours that might first have arisen in H. ergaster include male-female divisions of foraging and true monogamous pair bonds. H. ergaster also marks the appearance of more advanced tools of the Acheulean industry, including the earliest known hand axes. Though undisputed evidence is missing, H. ergaster might also have been the earliest hominin to master control of fire.
^Broom, R.; Talbot, J. T. (1949). "A New Type of Fossil Man". Nature. 164 (4164): 322–323. Bibcode:1949Natur.164..322B. doi:10.1038/164322a0. PMID 18137042. S2CID 4106457.
^Tattersall 2013, p. 5.
^Tattersall 2013, p. 14.
^Wood, Bernard; Doherty, Dandy; Boyle, Eve (29 May 2020). "Hominin Taxic Diversity". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.194. ISBN 9780190854584. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
^Ben-Dor, Miki; Sirtoli, Raphael; Barkai, Ran (2021). "The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 175: 27–56. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24247. PMID 33675083.
Homoergaster is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether H. ergaster constitutes a species...
during the Late Miocene. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago and spread throughout Africa (where it is called Homoergaster) and Eurasia in several...
palaeojavanicus, Homo erectus soloensis, Homo erectus tautavelensis, Homo erectus georgicus. The distinction from descendant species such as Homoergaster, Homo floresiensis...
members. However, unlike what is presumed for H. ergaster and later Homo, short-statured early Homo are generally considered to have been incapable of...
sufficiently different from the other locally recognised Homo species (H. habilis and H. ergaster/H. erectus) to represent a new species. The classification...
between the skulls. Their initial description classified them as Homo (erectus?) ergaster (an otherwise African taxon), or potentially an early offshoot...
remains represent a different Homo species, which coexisted with H. habilis and H. ergaster/H. erectus. Coexisting Homo species conflicted with the predominant...
Homo longi is an extinct species of archaic human identified from a nearly complete skull, nicknamed 'Dragon Man', from Harbin on the Northeast China Plain...
ago. Continuing the pattern of hominid dental morphological evolution, ergaster had a less prognathic face, smaller dental arcade. The mandibular symphysis...
separate species, H. ergaster, or as H. erectus ergaster, a subspecies of H. erectus. Many paleoanthropologists now use the term Homoergaster for the non-Asian...
contemporaneous Tighennif remains from Algeria (usually classified as Homoergaster [=? Homo erectus], originally "Atlantanthropus mauritanicus") represent the...
candidates Homoergaster (or "African H. erectus") Homo naledi Eurasian H. erectus candidates: Homo antecessor Homo heidelbergensis Homo floresiensis Homo rhodesiensis...
species are Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis which evolved by 2.3 million years ago. H. erectus (the African variant is sometimes called H. ergaster) evolved...
Homo naledi is an extinct species of archaic human discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave system, Gauteng province, South Africa (See Cradle of Humankind)...
Homo floresiensis ( /flɔːrˈɛziːˌɛn.sɪs/ also known as "Flores Man") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia...
claimed by some that this feature would be normal for all Homo, even tropically-adapted Homoergaster or erectus, with the condition of a narrower thorax in...
Homo luzonensis, also locally called "Ubag" after a mythical caveman, is an extinct, possibly pygmy, species of archaic human from the Late Pleistocene...
to have descended from African H. erectus — sometimes classified as Homoergaster — during the first early expansions of hominins out of Africa beginning...
heidelbergensis. It has features that represent a transition between Homoergaster/erectus and Homo sapiens. Ndutu cranium, "the hominid from Lake Ndutu" in northern...
million years ago. Denisovans may represent a new species of Homo or an archaic subspecies of Homo sapiens (modern humans), but there are too few fossils to...
Humankind Homoergaster – Extinct species or subspecies of archaic human Homo rudolfensis – Extinct hominin from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa Homo habilis –...
stone tools associated with Homo neanderthalensis. Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominins Homo erectus and Homoergaster as early as 300,000 to 1...
Early Pleistocene, and coexisted with Paranthropus robustus and Homoergaster / Homo erectus. Malapa is interpreted as having been a natural death trap...
paniscus Homo habilis Homo rudolfensis HomoergasterHomo erectus Homo antecessor Homo heidelbergensis Homo naledi Homo neanderthalensis Homo denisova Homo sapiens...
(EMH), or anatomically modern human (AMH), are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent...
the major events in the evolutionary lineage of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, throughout the history of life, beginning some 4 billion years ago...
name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a Homoergaster youth who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most...
Vratislav Mazák announced a new species of human they called Homoergaster. Homoergaster specimens have been found at numerous sites in eastern and southern...
archaic Homo, beginning with Homoergaster and reaching the highest sophistication in the Middle Pleistocene with Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis...
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