Humanities Homework Help. USF Homo Erectus & the Extinction of Other Hominin Species Discussion
Rise of the Genus Homo
About 2 mya – 1.8 mya there were at least six different hominin groups alive in East Africa and South Africa: Australopithecus sediba, Paranthropus robustus, Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and early Homo erectus. P. robustus, P. boisei and H. rudolfensis were more robust, while A. sediba, H. habilis and H. erectus were more gracile.
Discussion prompt:
• Why did H. erectus succeed while all of the other species apparently died off?
• Discuss the environmental and/or behavioral factors that contributed to the extinction of all but one of the early hominin species by 1.5 mya.
• Possible avenues of discussion include climate change, impact disasters, shifts in food sources and/or habitats, genetic changes and adaptations, development of cultural behaviors, epigenetic factors, others?
