Homo ergaster, which lived from 1.9 – 1.8 million years ago, was the first hominid species to walk away from Africa and into Europe and Asia. Homo ergaster could talk to each other in their own language (which was made of a few sounds). Homo ergaster means “Working Man”.
Homo ergaster had new techniques: hand axes, a tall upright body, hairless body and sweating ability and most importantly the ability to understand and speak to each other. The Turkana boy is a young Homo ergaster fossil boy discovered by anthropologists Alan Walker and Richard Leakey. The Turkana boy was almost 5 feet tall and was about 9 years old when he died. Turkana boy is named after Lake Turkana in Kenya.
The Asian version of Homo ergaster is a very famous one. You may have heard of it sometimes. It is called Homo erectus. The first Homo erectus fossil was found by Eugene Dubois in Java in Indonesia. Homo erectus means “Upright Man”.
The European version is called Homo antecessor. The fossil of a young boy Homo antecessor was found in a cave in Spain.
Anay Ganesh 