Homo erectus, an early member of the genus Homo, successfully navigated harsher and more arid terrains for longer in Eastern Africa than previously thought, according to new research.
Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.
Debate has long centered on when the genus Homo acquired the adaptability to thrive in extreme environments like deserts and rainforests.
Traditionally, only Homo sapiens was thought capable of sustained occupation in such ecosystems, with archaic hominins seen as restricted to narrower ranges.
However, evidence suggests that early Homo had the ability to adapt to diverse and unstable environments as early as two million years ago.
“Now extinct, Homo erectus existed more than an estimated 1.5 million years, marking them as a species survival success in the human evolution story when compared with our own estimated existence of around 300,000 years to date,” said Griffith University’s Professor Michael Petraglia.
“That success came down to their ability to survive over a long period marked by many changes to the environment and climate,” added University of Calgary’s Professor Julio Mercader.
To examine how climatic fluctuations affected the ecological range, dispersal patterns, and technologies of Homo erectus, the authors undertook interdisciplinary research at Engaji Nanyori in Oldupai Gorge — a key early hominin locality in Tanzania’s equatorial zone.
They found that between approximately 1.2 million and one million years ago, semi-desert conditions persisted in the area with characteristic plant life evident.
The archaeological data suggest that groups of Homo erectus in the area adapted to the conditions over the period by repeatedly returning to live in locations with freshwater availability such as ponds, and developing specialized stone tools such as scrapers and notched tools (known as denticulates).
The researchers suggest that, together, these findings demonstrate that Homo erectus had a much greater adaptability to survive in extreme environments than was previously thought.
“This adaptive profile, marked by resilience in arid zones, challenges assumptions about early hominin dispersal limits and positions Homo erectus as a versatile generalist and the first hominin to transcend environmental boundaries on a global scale,” Professor Petraglia said.
“This adaptability likely facilitated the expansion of Homo erectus into the arid regions of Africa and Eurasia, redefining their role as ecological generalists thriving in some of the most challenging landscapes of the Middle Pleistocene,” added University of Manitoba’s Professor Paul Durkin.
The findings appear today in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
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J. Mercader et al. 2025. Homo erectus adapted to steppe-desert climate extremes one million years ago. Commun Earth Environ 6, 1; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01919-1