Laziness May Have Driven Homo Erectus to Extinction

By Yasemin Saplakoglu, Staff Writer | August 10, 2018 03:25pm ET

It turns out laziness existed long before couches and takeout. The "why bother?" attitude not only existed hundreds of thousands of years ago, but may also have led to the decline of an ancient human ancestor.

Homo erectus first appeared 2 million years ago and went extinct some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. But compared with other hominins, like Neanderthals, this species may have been quite lazy and more reluctant to adapt to a changing environment, according to new study published July 27 in the Journal PLOS One.

Archaeologists from Australian National University analyzed thousands of newfound and previously unearthed artifacts from an excavation site in the Arabian Peninsula in modern-day Saffaqah, Saudi Arabia, in 2014. Their findings suggested that the Homo erectus species in that area exerted the minimal effort necessary to make tools and find supplies. [Top 10 Mysteries of the First Humans]

Instead, these early humans lived in places that had easy access to stones and water, the study found.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63308-homo-erectus-laziness-extinction.html