Erectus vs. Sapien

Homo erectus skull cast.

With the obvious exception of members of certain religious groups, I think we can all agree that homo erectus and homo sapien (that'd be us) are related. But where are we in relation to homo erectus on the  wonderful family tree of human evolution? Are we great-great-great-grand babies? Cousins? Second-cousins three times removed? Fifth-cousin's abusive ex-husband's son-in-laws?

To get an idea of how difficult that is to figure out, let's think about that whole family tree thing literally. Imagine that tree has been broken up, scattered about, worn away, and buried in the ground for about 7 million years and now it's your job to put the pieces back together. Not so easy.

In fact, when Eugene Dubois discovered the first fossil of homo erectus in 1891, nicknamed Java Man, there was some controversy over whether or not it was even part of the same genus (homo, that is). Though there is still some debate over what fossils fall under the erectus species, it is now considered to be among the widest spread and longest lived species (see the long red stripe in the photo below). That's a lot of success for an extinct animal.

 

Click on the photo to check out this interactive timeline on the Smithsonian website. Red bars indicate different homo species and the time in which they lived.

How they are related to modern humans remains unclear. While some argue that homo erectus should be lumped in with our ancestors homo ergaster, others think that the species was part of an entirely different and now extinct branch.



A few extra notes on evolution:

We did NOT evolve from monekys!
On a weekly basis I have the privilege of listening to parents tell their children that they evolved from chimpanzees. This is NOT TRUE. While I strongly encourage parents to talk to their children about things like this (kids are smart and curious), if you would like to explain evolution try, "we evolved from animals that looked like monkeys," or "people and monkey's have the same great great great grandparents." Please! don't simplify a concept for your child (or unaware friend) using blatantly false information. You will just confuse them.


We also did NOT evolve from neanderthals. 
If that surprises you, I sympathize.  Neanderthals and modern humans are both part of the genus homo and share an ancestor, homo ergaster. However, that branch of the human family died off with the neanderthal. 

If you are still curious about human ancestry check out "How did humans develop?" in Popular Science. Though a little lengthy, this article provides a readable description of some crucial fossil findings and describes some traditional and modern analysis techniques. On page 3 it provides some background information regarding the initial controversy that surrounded the discovery of the first homo erectus fossil by Eugene Dubois.