Of all thehuman speciesthat once roamed the existence , only one remains — us . Why did our primitive cousins go extinct ? ForHomo erectus , something like sloth may have play a role , Cosmosreports .
A raw study in the journalPLOS Oneexplores the role thatH.erectus ’s lack of crusade may have add to its extermination . The external team of researchers based their analysis on an dig of a palaeolithic site in central Saudi Arabia with more than 1 million artifacts , notice that the toolsH. erectusmade were of consistently low quality than what dick makers in late geological period used . Their tools were constructed with whatever material was well-fixed to get , rather than what would make the best putz .
And it was n’t because respectable materials were n’t available . " At the website we looked at , there was a big rocky outcrop of quality stone just a short distance away up a small mound , ” study co - generator Ceri Shipton of the Australian National University say in apress statement . “ But rather than walk up the Benny Hill , they would just use whatever bit had rolled down and were lie down at the bottom . ” He added , “ They bang it was there , but because they had enough adequate resources , they seem to have remember , ‘ Why bother ? ’ ”
Meanwhile , otherhominin species , like our ownHomo sapiens , were happily shinny up great deal to essay out better materials for their shaft . Shipton suggest thatH. erectuslacked the propensity toward exploration and curiosity that has help our species flourish .
The source conjecture that “ laziness , ” combined with changes to their environment , was probable what did inH. erectus . As the humid environment around them became drying agent , H. erectusseemingly did n’t accommodate : They did n’t invent new kinds of tools to deal with the changing landscape , nor did they relocate or travel farther afield . The enquiry squad found the tools largely near juiceless river bed , suggesting thatH. erectusneither progressed technologically nor modified their demeanour for their adapted habitat .
H. erectusdid manage to walk uprightas we do — a first in human organic evolution — and it was likely the first hominin to expand their habitatbeyond Africa . But the combination of these two newly identified shortcomings , the authors argue , may have contributed toH.erectus ’s demise . Others expresseddoubtabout this possibility , pointing out that these hominins were pretty successful , subsist for some 1.5 million days . However uncreative their method acting were , they worked for a long time .
[ h / tCosmos ]
