They too must be less than human. My guess is that H. erectus lived a nomadic existence, leaving Aunt Hilda where she dropped, just like modern hunter-gatherer societies whose members are made in the image of God. There are stories and hopes, perhaps, but that's it. There is evidence, forensic evidence on stone tools that 1.5 million years ago there was some woodworking. Man is the only known being who uses tools to make other tools.
Man is also the only being who makes spears.
We are also the only beings who make complex stone tools. No ape can even do that, even when they tried to teach one. Their subject, Kanzi, a star in communication experiments, showed an immediate interest in having sharp flakes available to cut cords that held a fruit-containing box closed. He got the idea of striking flakes from a core, but even after many months of training he was still nowhere near the skill level of the Oldowan toolmakers. The latter clearly understood the major properties of the stones they worked and selected the most effective points at which to strike an inevitably irregular core.