Homo erectus

Homo erectus was an extinct species of archaic humanoid that has migrated out of the human homeland to occupy Rathnir, with its earliest occurrence about two million years ago. Its specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo. H. erectus was the first humanoid ancestor to spread through Rathnir, with a continental range extending from Aurlûnor Velande to regions in Sparwood. A popular theory links humans and elves to H. erectus, its common ancestor. While more evidence suggests this link, other humanoid species such as the Dwarves and H. rofulucus have the possibility to be linked to H. erectus. Populations in the southern continents may be ancestral to subspecies such as H. athielensis.

H. erectus had human-like body proportions and was the first species to have exhibited a flat face, prominent nose, long ears, sparse body hair coverage, and some evidence suggesting a tail. Intelligence of the H. erectus were not monolithic and often varied depending on the population. In older populations, development in intelligence seem to cease early in their lifespan, passing on their traits to their offspring, who had much less cognitive development and were largely self-sufficient. Nonetheless, archaeology sites generally show consumption of medium to large animals, such as cuahuacapra, ocelots, and wild pigs. The advancements of flint tool knapping have been largely associated with the H. erectus, leading paleoanthropologists to believe that the H. erectus was the first species to produce fire, hunting in coordinated groups, and stone carvings.

Discovery
On the outskirts of Lhûmar, a small archaeology guild led by Metanela Mindegaus found a skullcap belonging to the H. erectus in 903 ACA. By the next year, a femur was found in the banks of the nearby river. Due to the abnormally small brain size of the specimen paired with bipedality, the specimen was named the "upright man." While this was a groundbreaking discovery, the thought that modern civilized peoples came from primitive hominins was not new. In the southern jungles of Uldarash, the Tamji Tribe have supposedly descended from primitive peoples who stopped evolving mid-way. Due to modern archaeological technology, it was deduced that the Hyarians descended from H. athielensis.

By the following decades, more discoveries of primitive hominids have reached as far as western Sparwood. Unfortunately, however, a majority of them has been only assigned as H. erectus without scholarly analysis. As a consequence, research due to the mischaracterization of discovered specimens have been set back. In Athiel, Dr. Regulus Mindegaus discovered the fossils of H. athielensis, an offshoot of the H. erectus, in the Atoan Mountain Digsite. Due to this discovery, many previous hominid discoveries in the region were separated as H. athielensis.

Evolution
It has been proposed that H. erectus evolved in Jagdas or some unknown continent west of Rathnir about 2 million years ago. A widely used theory suggests that H. erectus descended from some type of bipedal ape. Paleontologists have yet to identify such an organism but it probably existed millions of years ago.

Because the latest remains of H. erectus are found in both Sparwood and Frostmarch (in Frostmarch as late as 108,000 BP, in Kartek 300,000 BP), it is debated where H. erectus stopped evolving. Paleontologists have yet to discover evidence suggesting H. erectus in Eldham, although some do believe the Lo'Oix descended from a branch of H. erectus that died out 90,000 years ago. The stagnation of migration through Eldham probably resulted from the intense cold temperatures of Sparwood. However, evidence does suggest that an ancestor of Pumilo habilis that evolved north of Eldham interbred with H. erectus, giving rise to the Pumilo genus that would result in the species of modern dwarves and gnomes.

H. erectus had reached Uldarash by 1.6 mya and another distinct wave of H. erectus had colonized Aurlûnor Velande, Syltör, about 780,000 years ago. Early teeth from Uldarash are bigger and more similar to those of basal (ancestral) western H. erectus than to those of the derived Aurlûnoren H. erectus. However, later Uldarashi teeth seem to reduce in size, which could indicate a colonization event by the Aurlûnoren or some closely related population. This colonization event gave rise to unknown non-Syltörian paleolithic human groups.

Subspecies
Homo erectus athielensis (776,000 - 120,000 BP)

Anatomy
H. erectus was likely the first hominin that possessed a projecting nose and a flat face, similar to the features of a modern human. In many specimens, the skull is most notably larger than modern humans/elves.

The Human-Elf Link Theory
Elves are suggested by several paleoanthropologists and biologists to be members of the genus Homo, due to their ability to breed and hybridize with humans and others. However, it is unknown whether or not this is due to magic influence, or if it is simply nonmagical biology at play. Studies done on this connection are inconclusive, due to the inherently private nature of conception among sentient peoples. Elf skeletons are hard to come by, often due to their practicing of cremation, and that ancestral elves originated in the unexplored western land of Akan'nash before the Elven Migrations brought them to Rathnir (and later Eldham) during the beginning of the historical era.