New Research Reveals Our Ancestors Were Tougher Than We Ever Knew

The now-extinct Homo erectus survived for 1.5 million years in extremely dry conditions.

On July 16, 2013, a paleontologist holds a jawbone of a Homo erectus uncovered in 1971 at the prehistoric Caune de l'Arago in France. Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images

An early ancestor of our species, Homo erectus, was a lot tougher and more adaptable than was long believed, a new study has revealed.

In an international effort, researchers from the University of Queensland School of Social Science and the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) at Griffith University, alongside scientists from Canada, Spain, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Germany, and the United States, examined early hominins.