Homo erectus: Difference between revisions

When the cranial capacity of ''Homo erectus'' is compared with ''Homo sapiens'' the morphological distinctions blur even further. ''Homo erectus'' has a cranial capacity from 780 cc to about 1225 cc, whereas modern humans have a capacity from 700 cc all the way up to 2200 cc. Clearly ''H. erectus'' falls with the natural range of modern humans in not only vault thickness, but cranial capacity as well.<ref name=lubenow128>Lubenow p. 128</ref> The close comparison was extended to newborns by a discovery in 2008 of a ''Homo erectus'' pelvis, which showed that their infants could have had a head much larger than previously thought. According to Sileshi Semaw, a [[paleoanthropologist]] at the Stone Age Institute and Indiana University-Bloomington, ''H. erectus'' infants could have had a head size of 318 mm in circumference, which is right at the lower end of the spectrum of modern day humans whose cranial circumferences at birth typically range from 320-370 millimeters.<ref name=nsf/> [[Neanderthals]] have also been shown to fall within the range of modern humans, having a skull capacity ranging from 1200 cc to 1650 cc. In fact, the skull morphology of the ''Homo erectus'' is virtually identical to Neanderthal - differing only by size.<ref name=lubenow128>Lubenow p. 128</ref>

{{cquote|My own conclusion is that ''Homo erectus'' and Neandertal are actually the same: ''Homo erectus'' is the lower end, with regard to size, of a continuum that includes ''Homo erectus'', early ''Homo sapiens'', and Neandertal. The range of cranial capacities for fossil humans is in line with the range of cranial capacities for modern humans.<ref>Lubenow p. 127</ref>}}