Homo Erectus | IAS GYAN

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Context

A new study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests that early humans first cooked food around 780,000 years ago. Before now, the earliest evidence of cooked food was around 170,000 years ago, with early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals using fire to cook vegetables and meat.

Details

The new study shows that Homo erectus, an ancestor of modern humans, was cooking food much further back in history.
The study team found their evidence in an archaeological site located in the northern Jordan Valley, in modern-day Israel. The site, called Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, is known to date back to around 780,000 years ago.
Homo erectuscommunities of the so-called Acheulian culture lived in the region. The communities had a varied diet, including large game, fruit and vegetables, and freshwater fish from the nearby paleo-Lake Hula.
The study team analyzed the remains of fish teeth (from carp and barbel) found in the proximity of fireplaces at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov. By analysing the crystal structure of the teeth, the team found that they had been cooked under 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit).
This suggested that the fish had been cooked at a controlled temperature rather than just burned.
Until now, no one could prove that Homo erectuscooked food. This is the first evidence that erectus had the cognitive ability to control fire and cook food.

Homo Erectus

Homo erectus is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago.
Several human species, such as heidelbergensis and H. antecessor — with the former generally considered to have been the ancestor to Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans — appear to have evolved from H. erectus.
erectus was the first human ancestor to spread throughout Eurasia, with a continental range extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Java.
erectushad a more modern gait and body proportions, and was the first human species to have exhibited a flat face, prominent nose, and possibly sparse body hair coverage.
erectus is associated with the Acheulean stone tool industry, and is postulated to have been the earliest human ancestor capable of using fire, hunting and gathering in coordinated groups, caring for injured or sick group members.
erectus males and females may have been roughly the same size as each other (i.e. exhibited reduced sexual dimorphism), which could indicate monogamy in line with general trends exhibited in primates.
It is unclear if erectus was anatomically capable of speech, though it is postulated they communicated using some proto-language.