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
For generations, historians and evolutionary naturalists have often debated the location of the human homeland, the source of all humanoid life, or if it even exists. Some have theorized the homeland lies in Jagdas, others believed it was located in an unknown continent. However, out of all these theories, it has been widely accepted that this "homeland" is located somewhere west of Rathnir. 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.

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

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.