The results, reported May 8 in the journal Nature Human Behavior, place the appearance of human - like cognition at the emergence of Homo erectus,
an early apelike species of human first found in Africa whose evolution predates Neanderthals by nearly 600,000 years.
These features distinguish the
early species on the Homo lineage from the more
apelike early Australopithecus, yet the fossil's primitive, sloping chin links it to a Lucy - like ancestor.