Homo heidelbergensis

***Homo heidelbergensis*** ("Heidelberg Man") is the scientific name given to a number of human fossil remains that are older than fossils of Neanderthals.  _Homo heidelbergensis_ is abbreviated ***H. heidelbergensis***.

## Classification

Scientists are not sure whether these remains are from a distinct species. They are fragments (small pieces of bones), and most cannot be dated exactly. In the older texts they were simply called archaic humans or "early _Homo sapiens._"

Archaeologists have found relatively well-defined remains of _Homo erectus_ in Africa from very early in human history.  There have also been well-defined remains of _Homo neanderthalensis_ found in Europe from later in history.  Some scholars use the terms "archaic humans," "early _Homo sapiens,_" or _Homo heidelbergensis_ to describe remains that seem to come from between these two periods in history.  Some authors use it for all early species of _Homo_, including Neanderthals.

## Discovery

In 1907, an archaeologist found a fossil of a lower jaw in Mauer, near Heidelberg, Germany.  Some scientists thought this lower jaw was so different from any other species that it belonged to an undiscovered species.  They named this species _Homo heidelbergensis_.

Later, archaeologists found remains in Arago, France, and Petralona, Greece, that they said were from _Homo heidelbergensis_. The best evidence found for these hominids is from between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago.

The stone tools used by _H. heidelbergensis_ were very similar to the Acheulean tools used by _Homo erectus_.

_Homo heidelbergensis_ may be the direct ancestor of both _Homo neanderthalensis_ in Europe and _Homo sapiens_.  Some experts believe that "Rhodesian Man," found in Africa, belongs to the group _Homo heidelbergensis_.

### Features

_Homo antecessor_ and _H. heidelbergensis_ may have had the same ancestor: _Homo ergaster_ from Africa.  Mostly, _H. ergaster_ was not very different from _H. heidelbergensis_.  However, _H. heidelbergensis_ had a larger brain-case.  On average, their skulls had a volume of 1100 – 1400 cm³ of space inside.  (The average modern human has 1350 cm³ of space inside his or her skull.)  _H. heidelbergensis_ also had more advanced tools and behavior than _H. ergaster_.  For these reasons, H. heidelbergensis has been classified as a separate species.

_H. heidelbergensis_ was taller and more muscular than modern humans.  Male _heidelbergensis_ averaged about  tall and .  Females averaged  and .

### They were good hunters

Cut marks on wild deer, elephants, rhinos, and horses show that _H. heidelbergensis_ hunted, killed, and butchered these animals. Some of these animals weighed 700 kg (1,500 lb) or more.

During this era, now-extinct wild animals like mammoths, European lions, and Irish elk lived on the European continent.

### They may have buried their dead

Recent findings in Atapuerca suggest that _H. heidelbergensis_ may have been the first species of the _Homo_ genus to bury their dead.  However, scientists still argue over whether this is true.

Some experts believe that _H. heidelbergensis_, like its descendant _H. neanderthalensis,_ learned a primitive form of language.

Scientists have not found any forms of art or sophisticated artifacts made by _H. heidelbergensis_, other than stone tools. However, archaeologists have found red ochre, a mineral that can be used to create a red pigment which can be used as a paint.  They found this possible paint at Terra Amata excavations in the south of France.

### Boxgrove Man

In 1994, British scientists unearthed a lower hominin tibia bone just a few miles away from the English Channel. Before a discovery at Gran Dolina, these were earliest known hominin remains in Europe.

Archaologists found the bone with hundreds of ancient hand axes, at the Boxgrove Quarry site. The bone is dated to between 478,000 and 524,000 years old.

The tibia had been chewed by a large carnivore.  This suggests two possibilities.  The individual may have been killed by a lion or wolf.  They might also have died from some other cause, and their unburied corpse was scavenged after their death.

The discoverers believe the remains are from _H. heidelbergensis._  However, some other scientists believe the remains are from early _H. neanderthalensis_.

### Sima de los Huesos

Beginning in 1992, a Spanish team has located more than 5,500 human bones that are at least 350,000 years old in the Sima de los Huesos site.  This site is in the Sierra de Atapuerca, in northern Spain. The pit contains fossils of perhaps 28 individuals, together with remains of _Ursus deningeri,_ other carnivores, and a biface called _Excalibur_.

Some scientists think that this Acheulean axe, made of red quartzite, was some kind of ritual offering for a funeral.  If so, it would be the earliest known evidence of a funerary practice.

Ninety percent of all known _H. heidelbergensis_ remains have come from this site. The fossil pit bones include:
- A complete cranium (skull 5), nicknamed _Miguelón_, and pieces of other skulls, such as skull 4, nicknamed _Agamenón,_ and skull 6, nicknamed _Rui_ (from El Cid, a local hero).
- A complete pelvis (pelvis 1), nicknamed Elvis, in remembrance of Elvis Presley.
- Mandibles, teeth, and many postcranial bones (like femurs, hand and foot bones, vertebrae, and ribs)
Nearby sites contain the only known and controversial _Homo antecessor_ fossils.

### Suffolk, England

In 2005, teeth and flint tools from the water vole _Mimomys savini_, which is used to date other species, were found in the cliffs at Pakefield near Lowestoft in Suffolk, England. This suggests that hominins existed in England 700,000 years ago.  These hominins may have been a cross between _H. antecessor_ and _H. heidelbergensis_.

## Other websites

- _Homo heidelbergensis_ – The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program