The Competitors of Homo erectus

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David Rabadà

The European expansion of Homo erectus seems to have been shaped by the biodiversity and size of the contemporary carnivore populations. Between roughly 1.4 and 0.8 million years ago, Europe was home to a wide array of large carnivores. This intense competition is reflected in the archaeological record: only around 2% of the bone remains found at erectus campsites show evidence of cut marks or crushing. In other words, the level of competition between humans and other predators was so high that Homo groups relied more on scavenging remains left by other carnivores than on hunting intact carcasses themselves.

Later, this situation began to change, and the proportion of processed bone remains at erectus sites rose to around 20%. Before 800,000 years ago, erectus populations were living alongside enormous felines and giant hyenas. In the face of such fierce competition, their interventions on animal remains were limited and predominantly scavenger-like. The use of Mode I technology—cobbles retouched at one end—has been associated with this subsistence strategy.

But around 800,000 years ago, predator and scavenger species began to decline in both size and variety. This led to a decrease in ecological competition, allowing erectus groups to access a greater number of animal resources, and even to organise more frequent hunts. This shift coincided with the emergence of a new lithic technology—Mode II—which had already evolved in Africa. The bifaces from Zamborino in Granada, dated to 760,000 years ago, are evidence of this development, as are those from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel (780,000 years ago), and from Cova Negra and Cova Victoria in Murcia, which date to around 900,000 years ago. These finds indicate that both stone-tool traditions coexisted in Western Europe for several thousand years, until the eventual widespread adoption of Mode II technology around 700,000 years ago.

One recurring question regarding these erectus populations is how they reached the Iberian Peninsula. For some years, Gibert and Agustí supported the idea of a direct arrival from Africa via the Strait of Gibraltar. Evidence cited in favour of this hypothesis included African faunal remains found on the peninsula, as well as the suggestion that certain islands might have served as stepping stones between the two continents. However, dental analyses of European erectus molars reveal stronger similarities with their Asian counterparts than with African ones. That is to say, the most plausible hypothesis is that the erectus populations of Western Europe arrived from Asia. Considering that Homo had already spread across Asia by around two million years ago, it seems likely that the European erectus originated from these eastern populations.

In the end, however, erectus disappeared. They are no longer with us. What remains is to understand what became of all these Homo groups at the end of their path, and what relationship they may have had with those who came after.

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The Erectus Set Out on a Journey

Source: educational EVIDENCE

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