Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T18:22:09.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evolution in Homo erectus: the question of stasis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Milford H. Wolpoff
Milford H. Wolpoff*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a conservative definition of the hominid taxon Homo erectus, the sample of specimens known at this time, 92 individuals in all, is examined to determine whether the species exhibited significant temporal trends or evolutionary stasis. The sample is divided into three low-resolution time spans, and it is shown that significant change characterizes a number of cranial, mandibular, and dental features. Rates of change are comparable to or above rates reported for other fossil vertebrate lineages sampled over a similar duration. The often repeated assertion that Homo erectus is an example of a species in evolutionary stasis is incorrect.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , Fall 1984 , pp. 389 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Allen, L. L. 1982. Stasis vs. evolutionary change in Homo erectus (abstract). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 57:166.Google Scholar
Ashton, E. H. and Spence, T. F. 1958. Age changes in the cranial capacity and foramen magnum of hominoids. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 130:169–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilsborough, A. 1976. Patterns of evolution in Middle Pleistocene hominids. J. Hum. Evol. 5:423–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bookstein, F. L., Gingerich, P. D., and Kluge, A. G. 1978. Hierarchical linear modeling of the tempo and mode of evolution. Paleobiology. 4:120–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boule, M. and Vallois, H. V. 1957. Fossil Men. Dryden; New York.Google Scholar
Bridges, P. S. 1984. Homo erectus femora: implications for gradualism (abstract). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 63:142.Google Scholar
Charlesworth, B., Lande, R., and Slatkin, M. 1982. A Neo-Darwinian commentary on macroevolution. Evolution. 36:474–498.Google ScholarPubMed
Chunglang, Chiu, Yümin, Gu, Yinyun, Zhang, and Shenshui, Chang. 1973. Newly discovered Sinanthropus remains and stone artifacts at Choukoutien. Vertebr. PalAsiat. 11:109–131.Google Scholar
Coon, C. S. 1962. The Origin of Races. Knopf; New York.Google Scholar
Cronin, J. E., Boaz, N. T., Stringer, C. B., and Rak, Y. 1981. Tempo and mode in hominid evolution. Nature. 292:113–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curtis, G. H. 1981. Man's immediate forerunners: establishing a relevant time scale in anthropological and archaeological research. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 292, B:7–20.Google Scholar
Day, M. H. 1982. The Homo erectus pelvis: punctuation or gradualism? Pp. 411–421. In: L'Homo erectus et la Place de l'Homme de Tautavel Parmi les Hominides Fossiles, Vol. 1. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar
Day, M. H., Leakey, R. E. F., Walker, A. C., and Wood, B. A. 1976. New Hominids from east Turkana, Kenya. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 45:369–436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delson, E. 1981. Paleoanthropology: Pliocene and Pleistocene human evolution. Paleobiology. 7:298–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubois, E. 1936. Racial identity of Homo soloensis Oppenoorth (including H. modjokertensis von Koenigswald) and Sinanthropus pekinensis Davidson Black. Proc. Konink. Ned. Akad. Wetensch. 39:1180–1185.Google Scholar
Eldredge, N. and Tattersall, I. 1982. The Myths of Human Evolution. Columbia; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1983. Rates of evolution: effects of time and temporal scaling. Science. 222:159–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, S. J. 1976. Ladders, bushes, and human evolution. Nat. Hist. 85(4):24–31.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. 1982. The meaning of punctuated equilibrium and its role in validating a hierarchical approach to macroevolution. Pp. 83–104. In: Milkman, R., ed. Perspectives on Evolution. Sinauer; Sunderland, Mass.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. and Eldredge, N. 1977. Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered. Paleobiology. 3:115–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimm, H. 1941. Untersuchungen über den fossilen Hominidenschädel von Modjokerto auf Java. Anthropol. Anz. 17:254–265.Google Scholar
Hemmer, H. 1967. Allometrie-Untersuchungen zur Evolution des menschlichen Schädels und seiner Rassentypen. Fischer; Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Holloway, R. L. 1978. Problems in brain endocast interpretation and African hominid evolution. Pp. 379–402. In: Jolly, C. J., ed. Early Hominids of Africa. Duckworth; London.Google Scholar
Holloway, R. L. 1980. Indonesian “Solo” (Ngandong) endocranial reconstructions: preliminary observations and comparisons with Neandertal and Homo erectus groups. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 53:285–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holloway, R. L. 1981. The Indonesian Homo erectus brain endocasts revisited. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 55:503–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holloway, R. L. 1982. Homo erectus brain endocasts: volumetric and morphological observations with some comments on cerebral asymmetries. Pp. 355–369. In: L'Homo erectus et la Place de L'Homme de Tautavel parmi les Hominides Fossiles. Vol. 1. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar
Holloway, R. L. 1983. Human paleontological evidence relevant to language behavior. Human Neurobiol. 2:105–114.Google ScholarPubMed
Howell, F. C. 1960. European and Northwest African middle Pleistocene hominids. Cur. Anthropol. 1:195–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, F. C. 1978. Hominidae. Pp. 154–248. In: Maglio, V. J., and Cooke, H. B. S., eds. Evolution of African Mammals. Harvard; Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howells, W. W. 1980. Homo erectus—who, when and where: a survey. Yearb. Phys. Anthropol. 23:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacob, T. 1976. Early populations in the Indonesian region. Pp. 81–93. In: Kirk, R. L. and Thorne, A. G., eds. The Origins of the Australians. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies; Canberra.Google Scholar
Jelínek, J. 1981. Was Homo erectus already Homo sapiens? Les Processus de L'Hominisation. CNRS Int. Colloq. No. 599:91–95.Google Scholar
Kennedy, G. E. 1983. A morphometric and taxonomic assessment of a hominine femur from the Lower Member, Koobi Fora, Lake Turkana. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 61:429–436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leakey, M. G. and Leakey, R. E. F., eds. 1978. Koobi Fora Research Project. Vol. 1. The Fossil Hominids and an Introduction to Their Context 1968–1974. Clarendon; Oxford.Google Scholar
Leakey, R. E. F. and Walker, A. C. 1976. Australopithecus, Homo erectus, and the single species hypothesis. Nature. 261:572–574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leakey, R. E. F. and Walker, A. C. 1980. On the status of Australopithecus afarensis. Science. 207:1103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LeGros Clark, W. E. 1964. The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution, rev. ed.Univ. Chicago; Chicago.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1982. Estimating stasis: can a null hypothesis be too null? Paleobiology. 8:307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinton, J. S. and Simon, C. M. 1980. A critique of the punctuated equilibria model and implications for the detection of speciation in the fossil record. Syst. Zool. 29:130–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malmgren, B. A. and Kennett, J. P. 1981. Phyletic gradualism in a Late Cenozoic planktonic foraminiferal lineage; DSDP Site 284, southwest Pacific. Paleobiology. 7:230–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, A. 1971. Homo erectus. Pp. 166–177. In: Dolhinow, P. and Sarich, V., eds. Background for Man. Little, Brown; Boston.Google Scholar
Matsu'ura, S. 1982. A chronological framing of the Sangiran hominids. Bul. Nat. Sci. Mus., Tokyo, Ser. D, 8:1–53.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. 1969. Principles of Systematic Zoology. McGraw-Hill; New York.Google Scholar
Piveteau, J. 1957. Traité de Paléontologie. Vol. 7, Les Primates et l'Homme. Masson; Paris.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. and Crick, R. E. 1981. Evolution of single characters in the Jurassic ammonite Kosmoceras. Paleobiology. 7:200–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rightmire, G. P. 1981. Patterns in the evolution of Homo erectus. Paleobiology. 7:241–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rightmire, G. P. 1982. Reply to Levinton. Paleobiology. 8:307–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riscutia, C. 1975. A study on the Modjokerto infant calvarium. Pp. 373–375. In: Paleoanthropology: Morphology and Paleoecology, Tuttle, R. H., ed. Mouton; The Hague.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santa Luca, A. P. 1980. The Ngandong Fossil Hominids. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, No. 78. Yale University; New Haven, Conn.Google Scholar
Sartono, S. 1982. Characteristics and chronology of early men in Java. Pp. 491–541. In: L'Homo erectus et la Place de L'Homme de Tautavel parmi les Hominides Fossiles. Vol. 2. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar
Sartono, S. and Djubiantono, T. 1983. Note on the paleomagnetic age of Homo modjokertensis. Pp. 534–541. In: L'Homo erectus. et la Place de L'Homme de Tautavel parmi les Hominides Fossiles. Vol. 2. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar
Schopf, T. J. M. 1981. Punctuated equilibrium and evolutionary stasis. Paleobiology. 7:156–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schopf, T. J. M. 1982. A critical assessment of punctuated equilibria. I. Duration of taxa. Evolution. 36:1144–1157.Google ScholarPubMed
Schopf, T. J. M. and Hoffman, A. 1983. Punctuated equilibrium and the fossil record. Science. 219:438–439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, A. H. 1965. The cranial capacity and orbital volume of hominoids according to age and sex. In: Homenaje a Juan Comas en su 65 Anniversario, Vol. 2. Libros de México; Mexico City.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1961. Principles of Animal Taxonomy. Columbia, Univ. Press; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1978. Chronospecies' longevities, the origin of genera, and the punctuational mode of evolution. Paleobiology. 4:26–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1979. Macroevolution: Patterns and Process. W. H. Freeman; San Francisco.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1981. The New Evolutionary Timetable. Basic; New York.Google Scholar
Stringer, C. B. 1981. The dating of European Middle Pleistocene hominids and the existence of Homo erectus in Europe. Anthropologie (Brno). 19:3–14.Google Scholar
Stringer, C. B., Howell, F. C., and Melentis, J. 1979. The significance of the fossil hominid skull from Petralona, Greece. J. Archaeol. Sci. 6:235–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, A. G. and Wolpoff, M. H. 1981. Regional continuity in Australasian Pleistocene hominid evolution. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 55:337–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tobias, P. V. 1971. The Brain in Hominid Evolution. Columbia Univ. Press; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tobias, P. V. 1980. Homo habilis and Homo erectus: from the Oldowan men to the Acheulian practitioners. Anthropologie (Brno). 18:115–119.Google Scholar
Trinkaus, E. 1984. Does KNM-ER 1481A establish Homo erectus at 2.0 myr. B.P.? Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 64:137–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vrba, E. 1980. Evolution, species, and fossils: how does life evolve? S. Aft. J. Sci. 76:61–84.Google Scholar
Walker, A. C., and Leakey, R. E. F. 1978. The hominids of east Turkana. Sci. Am. 239(2):54–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weidenreich, F. 1943. The skull of Sinanthropus pekinensis: a comparative study of a primitive hominid skull. Paleontol. Sin. n.s. D, No. 10.Google Scholar
Weidenreich, F. 1945. Giant early man from Java and south China. Anthropol. Pap. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 40:1–134.Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1957. Evolutionary rates of brachiopods. Geol. Mag. 94:201–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolpoff, M. H. 1977. Some notes on the Vértesszöllös occipital. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 47:357–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolpoff, M. H. 1980a. Cranial remains of Middle Pleistocene European hominids. J. Hum. Evol. 9:339–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolpoff, M. H. 1980b. Paleoanthropology. Knopf; New York.Google Scholar
Wolpoff, M. H. 1982. The Arago Dental Sample in the Context of Hominid Dental Evolution. Pp. 389–410. In: L'Homo erectus et la Place de l'Homme de Tautavel Parmi les Hominides Fossiles, Vol. 1. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar
Wolpoff, M. H., Xinzhi, Wu, and Thorne, A. G. 1984. Modern Homo sapiens origins: a general theory of hominid evolution involving the fossil evidence from east Asia. Pp. 411–483. In: Smith, F. H. and Spencer, F., eds. The Origins of Modern Humans. Liss; New York.Google Scholar
Maolin, Wu. 1983. Homo erectus from Hexian, Anhui, found in 1981. Acta Anthropol. Sin. 2:109–115.Google Scholar
Rukang, Wu and Xingren, Dong. 1982. Preliminary study of Homo erectus remains from Hexian, Anhui. Acta Anthropol. Sinica. 1:2–13.Google Scholar
Mingzhen, Zhou, Yanxian, Li, and Linghong, Wang. 1982. Chronology of the Chinese fossil hominids. Pp. 593–604. In: L'Homo erectus et la Place de l'Homme de Tautavel parmi les Hominides Fossiles, Vol. 2. Louis-Jean Scientific and Literary Publications; Nice.Google Scholar