The earliest evidence we have for homorexus outside africa, is one point eight million years old in demonisian georgia. They were a combination of that bigger brain and ability to using their hands, but also to communicate,. pass on the knowledge of what in the group have been doing - so that beginning of cumulative culture. By controlling fire, homo rectus could also start cooking. My guess is that homooractis would be the same. But so far it has been very difficult to prove anything about it. And i don't know, that's quite difficult to find back in the fossil record at all. I'm quite intrigued by the recent research finding by the
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