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Homo erectus ("upright man") is a hominid species that is believed to be an ancestor of modern humans. The species is found from the middle Pleistocene onwards. It had fairly modern human features, with a larger cranial capacity than that of Homo habilis. The forehead is less sloping and the teeth are smaller. Homo erectus would bear a striking resemblance to modern humans, but had a brain about 74 percent of the size of modern man. These early humans were tall, on average standing about 1.78 m (5 feet, 10 inches) tall.

Homo erectus also used more diverse and sophisticated tools than its predecessors. One theory is that H. erectus first used tools of the OldowanOldowan is an anthropological designation for an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric hominids in the very early Paleolithic. It is characterized by the use of crudely worked pebble (chopping) tools, that were not constructed after any discernable style and then later used tools of the AcheuleanAcheulean (also spelled Acheulian is the name of an industry of stone tools used by prehistoric hominids. It applies to the Paleolithic epoch following the Abbevillian, and it is characterized by the use of pebble, bifacial, and flake tools which included style. The surviving tools from both periods are all made of stone. Oldowan tools are the oldest known formed tools and date as far back as about 2.4 million years ago. The Acheulean era began about 1.2 million years ago and ended about 500,000 years ago. The primary innovation associated with Acheulean handaxes is that the stone was chipped on both sides to form two cutting edges.

Homo erectus (along with Homo ergasterHomo ergaster ("workman man") is an extinct hominid species (or subspecies, according to some authorities) which arose in Africa some 1. 9 million years ago. ergaster is sometimes categorized as a subspecies of Homo erectus''. It is currently in contentio) was probably the first early human to fit squarely into the category of a hunter and predator and not as prey for larger animals. Early man, in the person of Homo erectus, was learning to master his environment for the first time.

There is some dispute as to whether H. erectus was able to control fire. However, the earliest (least disputed) evidence of controlled fire is around 300,000 years old and comes from a site called Terra Amata, which lies on an ancient beachA beach or strand is a geological formation consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, shingle, or cobble along the shoreline of a body of water. Components Some geologists consider a beach to be just this shoreline feature of deposited material, bu location on the French Riviera. This site seems to have been occupied by Homo erectus. There are older Homo erectus sites that seem to indicate the controlled use of fire, some dating back 500,000 to 1.5 million years ago, in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute, and other areas. A discovery brought forth at the Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada in March of 2004 stated that controlled fires have been evidenced in excavations in Northern Israel from about 690,000 to 790,000 years ago. Regardless, it can at least be surmised that the controlled use of fire was atypical of Homo erectus until its decline and the rise of more advanced species of the Homo genus came to the forefront.