KNM-ER 1481

Exhibit Item
Site: Koobi Fora, Kenya
Year of Discovery:
Discovered by: John M. Harris
Age: About 1.89 million years old
Species: Homo erectus
No Scan

Longer legs and travel to new regions

This long 1.89 million year old femur (thigh bone), KNM-ER 1481 from Koobi Fora, Kenya, enabled its owner, a Homo erectus individual, to take long strides and therefore to walk farther and faster than earlier humans.

 

Homo erectus KNM-ER 1481, left femur
(Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution)