The evolutionary
dividing line between Homo erectus and modern humans was not
sharp. It extended over several hundred thousand years.
Adding to the confusion about this important transitional period is the
fact that some regions were ahead of others in the process of evolving
into our species. The evolutionary changes above the neck that
would lead to modern humans may have begun in Southern Europe and
Northwest Africa by at least 600,000 years ago. Elsewhere in the
Old World, this change apparently began around 400,000 years ago.
The transition to our species, Homo sapiens, was not complete
until around 100,000 years ago and even somewhat later in some regions.
 |
|
Archaic Homo sapiens |
It is difficult to speak of our ancestors in terms of specific species during this long period of accelerated change from 600,000 to 100,000 years ago. Some paleoanthropologists now classify the more biologically progressive post-600,000 B.P. populations in Europe and parts of Africa as a distinct species--Homo heidelbergensis. By 300,000 years ago, some of these populations had begun the evolutionary transition that would end up with Neandertals and other peoples that have been collectively referred to as archaic Homo sapiens (shown as red in the diagram below). By 100,000 B.P., some of the later archaic Homo sapiens had evolved into modern Homo sapiens. Complicating the picture is the fact that, in at least one area of Southeast Asia, a few Homo erectus remained until around at least 60,000 years ago.
