ABOVE: A Homo erectus skull found in Kenya that was not analyzed in the new study.
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Homo erectus fossil remains discovered decades ago in Central Java, Indonesia, represent the last known individuals of the ancient hominin species, according to a press release. The new findings help to clarify how long H. erectus existed. The species, which evolved 2 million years ago, was the first to walk upright and to migrate from Africa.
Paleontologist Yan Rizal at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia and colleagues used radioactive dating to analyze 12 skulls and two lower leg bones discovered between 1931 and 1933. Over the years, the age of these fossils has been difficult to determine due to the geological complexity of the excavation site, an area near the Solo River at Ngandong that was experiencing changes in environmental conditions when the hominins died during a mass death...
These specimens confirm that the species likely went extinct due to climate change, study coauthor Russell Ciochon, a biological anthropologist at the University of Iowa, tells CNN. “The open woodland was replaced by a rainforest. No Homo erectus fossils are found after the environment changed, so Homo erectus likely was unable to adapt to this new rainforest environment,” he says.
Emily Makowski is an intern at The Scientist. Email her at emakowski@the-scientist.com.
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