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Note the difference in the shape of the cranium. On the right, H. erectus has a long cranium with a "transverse torus," a protruding area of bone at the back of the braincase. H. ergaster has a more globe-shaped braincase that lacks this torus. Although the African cranium and the East Asian reconstruction both depict females, the later H. erectus (right) exhibits larger browridges. Compare the two, this time in frontal view.
According to many scientists, the early African population represented a more "generalized" form of archaic human, one that could have given rise to the modern human species, whereas Asian H. erectus may have been too specialized in its appearance. If so, the latter is its own interesting and long-lived branch in our family tree. But other scientists disagree; they think that the variation between the two reflects a single evolving lineage.
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