When we homosapians emerged around 300 thousand years ago, we followed an ancestor who had thrived on earth for up to two million years. This was hemoerectus, upright, man, who spread from africa to asia and whose fossilized remains were found in 18 91 on the island of java. And if we imagine ourselves superior to them so far, we could perhaps make a dinote to reassess that once we'd been on the earth as long as they were,. wi me to discuss homo rectors are pete kirgard, derector of the natural history museum of denmark; jersey jordans, senior researcher in human evolution at
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of our ancestors, Homo erectus, who thrived on Earth for around two million years whereas we, Homo sapiens, emerged only in the last three hundred thousand years. Homo erectus, or Upright Man, spread from Africa to Asia and it was on the Island of Java that fossilised remains were found in 1891 in an expedition led by Dutch scientist Eugène Dubois. Homo erectus people adapted to different habitats, ate varied food, lived in groups, had stamina to outrun their prey; and discoveries have prompted many theories on the relationship between their diet and the size of their brains, on their ability as seafarers, on their creativity and on their ability to speak and otherwise communicate.
The image above is from a diorama at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, depicting the Turkana Boy referred to in the programme.
With
Peter Kjærgaard
Director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Professor of Evolutionary History at the University of Copenhagen
José Joordens
Senior Researcher in Human Evolution at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre and Professor of Human Evolution at Maastricht University
And
Mark Maslin
Professor of Earth System Science at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson