Were our Ancestors (homo erectus) smarter than the Modern day Chimpanzee?

Question

I sure hope so. Those things aren't very bright.

Answer 1

Like the Chimpanzee, humans,  and the Bonobo, Homo Erectus was a toolmaker.  He was also a maker and user of fire, unlike Chimps or Bonobos.  Probably smarter than the apes, but less so than humans.

Answer 2

I don't know why you say they aren't very bright -- I'd say they ARE. (Although not as big as ours, they do have big brains -- and complex social relations, make and use tools, and in general are curious and capable of learning a lot.)

Here's a web site that includes information about brain size among our ancestors at various points -- brain-size being an indicator of intelligence.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/bein...

Some of the links you have to be a surbscriber (pay) to read; others are free.

Answer 3

The Homo Erectus are known for Acheulean stone tools (source 1), which requires advanced planning and at least some degree of technical expertise which includes some crude form of lithic retouching (source 2): much more sophisticated than what is used by chimpanzees.

Chimpanzee tool usage usually involve using sticks and stones AS tools instead of using them to MAKE tools (source 3). Even the Oldowan tools (source 4) used by the Homo Habilis (older than Homo Erectus) are more advanced than the tools chimpanzees use, albeit not by much.

This, of course, doesn't mean you should go around giving spears or guns to chimpanzees: just because they don't have the creativity to make something doesn't mean they can't learn to use it. XD

Answer 4

There are two problematic variables involved in this question.  

First - 'smart' is difficult to define using any objective standard, especially when comparing different animals and comparing to our own standards.

Second - We really don't have anything but educated guesses about how intelligent our extinct ancestral species were.  Cranial capacity is, at best, a poor proxy for intelligence testing - which has its own major problems.  

If, by "smart", you mean intelligent in the particular way in which humans are intelligent, then it is likely that H. erectus would be considered 'smarter'.

Answer 5

Homo erectus probably represents multiple species.  It spans such a great length of time that its brain size varied greatly.  The brain was more than twice as large as in a chimp for even "primitive" erectus.  It was logically closer to modern humans and much smarter.

Answer 6

Homo Erectus is a proven fraud. It never existed. Something that doesn't exist cannot be smart, dumb, ugly, pretty, fast, slow or anything.