archaic Homo

[ ahr-key-ik hoh-moh ]

noun

1. collectively, the very robust, regionally differentiated human populations that lived in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa from 35,000 to 200,000 years ago.
2. any physically robust, premodern form of the genus Homo, comprising species that were anatomically intermediate forms and regional variants between H. erectus and modern H. sapiens : fossil evidence suggests that certain archaic Homo populations may have direct ancestral lines to modern humans.

Word History and Origins

Origin of archaic Homo¹

First recorded in 1855–60