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''Homo heidelbergensis'' – also ''Homo rhodesiensis'' – is an extinct species of the genus ''Homo'' which lived in Africa, Europe and western Asia between 600 and 200 thousand years ago. The skulls of this species share features with both ''Homo erectus'' and anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'', its brain was nearly as large as that of ''Homo sapiens''. Although the first discovery - a mandible - was made in 1907 near Heidelberg in Germany where it was described and named by Otto Schoetensack, "the great majority of fossils attributed to ''Homo heidelbergensis'' have () been obtained recently, beginning in 1997." The Sima de los Huesos cave at Atapuerca in northern Spain holds particularly rich layers of deposits that "represent an exceptional reserve of data" where excavations are still in progress.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Natural History Museum, London )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History )〕 Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans are all considered to have descended from ''Homo heidelbergensis'' who appeared around 700.000 years ago in Africa. Fossils were recovered in Ethiopia, Namibia and South Africa. Between 300,000 and 400,000 years ago a group of ''Homo heidelbergensis'' migrated into Europe and West Asia via yet unknown routes and eventually evolved into Neanderthals. Archaeological sites exist in Spain, Italy, France, England, Germany, Hungary and Greece. Another ''Homo heidelbergensis'' group ventured eastwards into continental Asia, eventually developing into Denisovans. The African ''Homo heidelbergensis'' (''Homo rhodesiensis'') population evolved into ''Homo sapiens'' approximately 130,000 years ago, who migrated into Europe and Asia in a second wave at some point between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago. The correct assignment of many fossils to a particular chronospecies is difficult and often controversies ensue among paleoanthropologists due to the absence of universally accepted dividing lines between ''Homo erectus'', ''Homo heidelbergensis'' and Neanderthals. Some researchers suggest that the finds associated to ''Homo heidelbergensis'' are mere variants of ''Homo erectus''. ==Morphology and interpretations== Both ''H. antecessor'' and ''H. heidelbergensis'' are likely to have descended from the morphologically very similar ''Homo ergaster'' from Africa. But because ''H. heidelbergensis'' had a larger brain-case – with a typical cranial volume of 1100–1400 cm³ overlapping the 1350 cm³ average of modern humans – and had more advanced tools and behavior, it has been given a separate species classification. For more than half a century many experts were reluctant to accept Homo heidelbergensis as a separate taxon due to the rarity of specimens that prevented sufficient informative morphological comparisons and the distinction of Homo heidelbergensis from other known human species. The species name "heidelbergensis" only experienced a renaissance with the many discoveries of the past 30 years and appears now to be recognized by an increasing number of researchers. Yet some researchers hold the contrary view that the evolutionary development in Africa and Europe was a gradual process from Homo erectus via the findings assigned to Homo heidelbergensis towards Neanderthal. Any form of segregation is considered arbitrary, which is why these researchers forgo the name Homo heidelbergensis altogether. The fact that there seem to be no clear transitions makes it difficult to draw up a list of unique characteristics of H. heidelbergensis which distinguishes it from Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. In general, the findings show a continuation of evolutionary trends which are emerging from around the Lower- into Middle Pleistocene. Along with changes in the robustness of cranial and dental features a remarkable increase in brain size from H. erectus towards H. heidelbergensis is noticable. Male heidelbergensis averaged about tall and . Females averaged and . A reconstruction of 27 complete human limb bones found in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) has helped to determine the height of ''H. heidelbergensis'' compared to ''Homo neanderthalensis''; the conclusion was that most ''H. heidelbergensis'' averaged about 170 cm (5 ft 7in) in height and were only slightly taller than Neanderthals. According to Lee R. Berger of the University of Witwatersrand, numerous fossil bones indicate some populations of heidelbergensis were "giants" routinely over 2.13 m (7 ft) tall and inhabited South Africa between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Homo heidelbergensis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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