Homo heidelbergensis Free Essay Example, 2750 words

Daniel Hartman was a workman who spotted the fossil jaw in a sandpit. The jaw found was in a good shape only with a premolar teeth missing but found later near the jaw. Daniel Hartman handed the fossil to professor Otto Schoetensack who was from University of Heidelberg. He identified the fossil and named it as Homo heidelbergensis. Professor Otto Schoetensack   Francis Adrian joseph Turville-petre was a British archeologist who found the first ancient fossil in western Asia where he unearthed Galilee skull in Israel. Francis Adrian Joseph Turville-Petre Lee Rogers Berger found out that many fossil bones indicated some inhabitants of heidelbergensis which was huge habitually over 1.57 m and 50kg, and that they inhabited S. Africa around 300000 to 500000 years ago. He was paleoanthrolopologist, archeologist, and physical anthropologist Lee Rogers Berger Steven Mithen was a professor of archeology. He concluded that Homo heidelbergensis used a prelinguistic sytem of communication similar the one used by Homo neanderthalensis. Dating method Radiometric dating technique was used to date the type-site for the Homo heidelbergensis. We will write a custom essay sample on Homo heidelbergensis or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The radiocarbon dating method is the most common but since the dates become less certain the farther back in time we go, by around 60,000 years +/- 4,000 the C14 dates have a large propensity for error. Chronometric dating employs the use of infrared radiofluorescence (IF-RF) methods which dates light-exposure of sediments grain recorded last by measuring their depository age. The fossil is an important element as it aids the understanding of occupation of early man in Europe north of Alps. With the use of mammal fauna and geological aspects, the find layer was put in the early middle Pleistocene although the chronometric evidence to confirm the action is missing. Two different independent techniques can be applied at this level for instance, sand spin resonance or the U-series method. The mammal teeth are used during the method and the infrared radio fluorescent is applied to the sand grains. This method dated the site where the fossil of Homo heidelbergensis was discovered to be in the range of 609000 with a deviation of plus or negative 40000 years old. The result obtained indicated that the Homo heidelbergensis mandible was the oldest hominin fossil that has ever been recorded from northern and central Europe. The quaternary deposits that are beyond the age of 400000 are hard to assess using the chronometric dating methodology especially when volcani c layers are not there.