Homo ergaster

Homo ergaster is an extinct archaic human, or perhaps a subspecies, that lived in Africa during the Early Pleistocene. Some researchers fold it into Homo erectus as African Homo erectus, while others keep it separate because of anatomical differences from the Asian fossils. The name means working man and refers to the more advanced tools it made compared with its predecessors. Fossils are known across East and Southern Africa, with most found along the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. The main fossil range is about 1.7 to 1.4 million years ago, although the lineage may have persisted until about 600,000 years ago, when new Homo lineages arose in Africa.