Re: An alternative to ST and AAT

John Waters (jdwaters@dircon.co.uk)
4 Dec 1996 11:07:15 GMT

Gerrit Hanenburg <G.Hanenburg@inter.nl.net> wrote in
article <581t6a$2lt@news.NL.net>...
> "John Waters" <jdwaters@dircon.co.uk> wrote:

> > I wonder
> > whether there is any evidence for this in later
fossils?
>
> The ratio male/female bodyweight in modern H.sapiens is
1.22.
> If we use 63.0 kg for male bodyweight and 52.3 kg for
female
> bodyweight in African H.erectus (McHenry 1994) then the
male/female
> ratio is 1.20. In other words sexual dimorphism in early
H.erectus was
> similar to modern humans.

JW: That of itself is very interesting, Gerrit. But I was
really interested in later H. erectus fossils. Perhaps
there aren't any.

Most modern humans have an ancestral background in which
polygamic mating systems were normal. These tend to produce
sexual dimorphism, which explains why it still exists
today. The impact of two thousand years of Christian
monogamy haven't made much impact yet. The fact that early
H. erectus had similar dimorphic qualities gives us an
insight into the habitat of that species.

John.