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Homo ergaster ("workman man") is an extinct hominid species (or subspecies, according to some authorities) which arose in Africa some 1.9 million years ago. H. ergaster is sometimes categorized as a subspecies of Homo erectus. It is currently in contention whether H. ergaster or the later, Asian H. erectus was the direct ancestor of modern humans. H. ergaster may be distinguished from H. erectus by its thinner skull bones and lack of an obvious sulcus.

The type specimen of H. ergaster is KNM-ER 992 ; the species was named by Groves and Mazak in 1975.

The species name originates from the GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce ergaster meaning "Workman". This name was chosen due to the discovery of various tools such as hand-axes and cleaverThe word cleaver has a number of uses: A cleaver is a large form of knife. A cleaver (geology), in descriptive geology is a ridge of rock that separates a unified flow of glacial ice from its uphill side into two glaciers flanking, and flowing parallel tos near the skeletal remains of H. ergaster.

See also

• Evolution of Homo sapiens