Homo erectus lived much longer than scientists thought

A new study has revealed surprising results.

A distant relative of modern humans lived relatively recently in Southeast Asia. This is indicated by a new study published in the journal Nature.

Members of Homo erectus — the «Upright Man» — evolved around 2 million years ago and were the first known human species to walk fully upright. New evidence suggests that this species lived on the Indonesian island of Java as recently as 100 thousand years ago — much longer after it disappeared elsewhere.

This means that Homo erectus existed there at a time when our species already lived on Earth. In the 1930s, 12 skullcaps and 2 thighbones of Homo erectus were found at a bone bed near the village of Ngandong in central Java. Over the following decades, researchers tried to determine the age of these fossil remains. However, this was a difficult task.

Recently, researchers began new excavations on the island of Java, re-analyzing the site and its surroundings. They believe the age of the bone tissue found is 117 to 118 thousand years. These are the youngest known remains of Homo erectus found anywhere in the world.

The researchers believe that the remains of the ancient people they are studying ended up in one place due to some kind of mass death. A volcanic eruption may have been the cause.