ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 begins with the appearance of more advanced hominins, Homo ergaster , in tropical Africa about 1.9 mya. We then describe Homo erectus , who appears in Southeast Asia by 1.8 mya. Thereafter we describe their lifeways and expertise at big game hunting before discussing the appearance of other archaic humans. This leads us to fascinating questions: Who were the Neanderthals? How did they differ from modern humans? Finally, we try to answer one of the fundamental questions of prehistory: How, where, and when did fully modern Homo sapiens evolve? This question involves a jigsaw puzzle of genetics, archaeology, and environmental change, complicated by the enormous Mt. Toba eruption of 73,500 years ago.
