Homo heidelbergensis

[hoh-moh hahyd-l-ber-gen-sis]

noun

1. 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.

2. a fossil belonging to this species.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Homo heidelbergensis¹

From New Latin; Homo ( def. ) + heidelbergēnsis “pertaining to Heidelberg”

Example Sentences

The objects date from the end of a warm interglacial period 300,000 years ago, about when early Neanderthals were supplanting Homo heidelbergensis, their immediate predecessors in Europe.

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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.

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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.

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Homo heidelbergensis possessed a large browridge and a bigger braincase and flatter face than earlier hominins - species on the human evolutionary lineage.

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For instance, the researchers’ analysis showed that an early human species, Homo heidelbergensis, started expanding its habitat around 700,000 years ago.

Read more on Scientific American