Homo heidelbergensis
Americannoun
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an extinct species of the human lineage that lived between about 200,000 and 700,000 years ago, inhabiting Europe, eastern and southern Africa, and perhaps Asia: the first fossil specimen was discovered in a sandpit near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1907.
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a fossil belonging to this species.
Etymology
Origin of Homo heidelbergensis
From New Latin; Homo ( def. ) + heidelbergēnsis “pertaining to Heidelberg”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The tool was probably created by early neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The site lacks hominin bones, but most scholars assume the toolmakers were early Neanderthals or their immediate ancestor, Homo heidelbergensis, because it coincides with the earliest evidence for Neanderthals elsewhere in Europe.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 31, 2024
Neanderthals painted cave walls, Homo heidelbergensis hunted large animals like rhinos and hippos, and some scientists think even the small-brained Homo naledi was burying its dead in South African cave systems.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2023
No human remains were found there, but Barham suspects the artifacts were fashioned by a species called Homo heidelbergensis known from about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago.
From Reuters ● Sep. 20, 2023
Homo heidelbergensis appears to be directly ancestral to all the later Hominidæ.
From Man, Past and Present by Alfred Court Haddon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
