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Homo erectus in Europe where he is not supposed to be

29 August 2011
Anthropology

This story can be found at an interesting site with a nice name, http://averyremoteperiodindeed.blogspot.com/2011/08/170000-year-old-huma…  is all about a human skull, described by one of the people involved as Homo erectus – but at an impossible time. It was found in France in the period normally assigned to the Neanderthals – considered to be a more advanced form of Homo erectus. Is the skull a throwback or may it simply be another variant of Homo erectus. It may also indicate that current dating and the distribution of the different human groups are in error – or that geochronology is in some areas stretched. On the other hand the response will be all too predictable – the skull fragment will turn up to be Neanderthal after all and the distinct analogies with Homo erectus will either be ignored or glossed over and compartmentalised. The consensus framework takes precedence – not the evidence. 

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