Homo erectus emerges and begins long-distance migration
c. 1.9 million years ago·Science, technology & invention·Africa, then Eurasia·
c. 1.9 million years agoDate
Science, technology & inventionCategory
0Empires active
- Date
- c. 1.9 million years ago
- Category
- Science, technology & invention
- Region
- Africa, then Eurasia
- Era
- Prehistory
- Significance
Homo erectus (and African form Homo ergaster) appears. Larger brain (850–1100 cc), more advanced Acheulean handaxes, and first hominin to migrate out of Africa into Eurasia on a large scale.
See the world map in c. 1.9 million years ago →More science, technology & inventionThe Prehistory era
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Related science, technology & invention events
- Australopithecus afarensis ('Lucy' and relatives)c. 3.9–2.9 million years ago
- Discovery of the Denisovans and archaic-modern interbreedingc. 100,000 – 40,000 years ago (interbreeding); identified 2010
- Domestication of maize from teosinte in Mesoamericac. 7000 BCE (c. 9,000 years ago)
- Domestication of rice in the Yangtze River basinc. 8000–6000 BCE
- Domestication of the dog, humanity's first domesticated animalc. 16,000 – 14,000 years ago
- Earliest Controlled Use of Fire by Homo erectusc. 1,000,000 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Science
Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.
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