Homo erectus: Difference between revisions

In the 1980s paleontologists viewed ‘’Homo erectus’’ as living between 400,000 and 1.5 million years ago (mya), but since that time at least 140 fossils have been found that are younger than this age range and 32 fossils that date to be older. For example, Garniss H. Curtis at the University of California, Berkeley dated the oldest fossils at Java (where [[Java Man]] was found) at 1.81 Mya, and the Java Solo Ngandong beds as being only 27,000 years old. <ref>Lubenow, p. 117</ref> There are at least 78 ‘’Homo erectus’’ fossils that have been dated more recently than 30,000, the youngest yet discovered only 6000 years old. <ref>Lubenow, p. 119</ref>   

The timeframe of fossils of H. erectus fossils overlaps other hominids so extensively that it voids any attempt to claim an evolutionary sequence. Fossils show that Homo erectus existed throughout the entire 500,000 year span when ’’Homo habilis’’ is said to have lived, making it impossible for H. erectus to have evolved from H. habilis as is almost universally held. <ref>Lubenow, p. 119</ref>  Furthermore, H. erectus is shown to have lived alongside what are known as “early Homo sapiens” during their entire 700,000 year existence, and alongside [[Neanderthals]] throughout the 800,000 years of their history. And lastly, ‘’Homo erectus’’ individuals have lived side by side with anatomically modern humans for 2 million years (according to evolutionary chronology). <ref>Lubenow, p. 120</ref>

For ‘’Homo erectus’’ to provide support as a transitional form between the [[australopithecines]] and modern humans, the dates assigned to ‘’H. erectus’’ fossils should occur between these other groups with minimal overlap.  The extensive timeframe during which H. erectus is found to exist effectively eliminates the possibility that they evolved into ‘’Homo sapiens’’. These discoveries illustrate significant problems with the evolutionary model. Not only do the dates show that ‘’H. erectus’’ lived contemporaneously with anatomically modern humans, but remained virtually unchanged for almost two million years.