A prehistoric human known as Homo erectus was the first of our forerunners to leave Africa, crossing continents and ultimately roaming the planet for almost 2 million years. But with scarce genetic ...

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic ...

An unusual skullcap and thousands of clues have created a southern twist to the story of human ancestors, in research published in Science on 3 April. The rolling hills northwest of Johannesburg are ...

Scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have uncovered new information suggesting a potential connection between Homo ...

Several Homo erectus skulls were recently identified as the youngest known fossils of the species, some 108,000 to 117,000 years old. These fossil replicas are housed at the University of Iowa. Tim ...

Imagine your child asked you, “When did grandma die?” and you could only respond, “It was probably a while ago, but it could have been quite recently.” Most likely your child would be unsatisfied with ...

A million years ago, a species known as Homo erectus most likely survived in an arid desert with no trees. By Carl Zimmer Chimpanzees live only in African rainforests and woodlands. Orangutans live ...

Scientists in China have uncovered new information from six Homo erectus tooth fossils dating back around 400,000 years, suggesting a potential connection between Homo erectus and modern humans, while ...

Compared with modern humans (Homo sapiens), who have been around for the past 300,000 years, Homo erectus, or "upright human," had a long reign. The ancient human species lived from 2 million years ...

For most of the 20th century, the model of human origins was a tree: with the trunk dividing into branches, and then twigs. Each species of human relative (hominin) was a neat, single branch. As an ...