Efforts to name and classify Middle Pleistocene Homo, often referred to as “Homo heidelbergensis” are hampered by confusing patterns of morphology but also by conflicting paleoanthropological ideologies that are embedded in approaches to hominin taxonomy, nomenclature, and the species concept. We deconstruct these issues to show how the field's search for a “real” species relies on strict adherence to pre-Darwinian essentialist naming rules in a post-typological world. We then examine Middle Pleistocene Homo through the framework of ethnobiology, which examines on how Indigenous societies perceive, classify, and name biological organisms. This research reminds us that across human societies, taxonomies function to (1) identify and classify organisms based on consensus pattern recognition and (2) construct a stable nomenclature for effective storage, retrieval and communication of information. Naming Middle Pleistocene Homo as a “real” species cannot be verified with the current data; and separating regional groups into distinct evolutionary lineages creates taxa that are not defined by readily perceptible or universally salient differences. Based on ethnobiological studies of this kind of patterning, referring to these hominins above the level of the species according to their generic category with modifiers (e.g., “European Middle Pleistocene Homo”) is consistent with observed human capabilities for cognitive differentiation, is both necessary and sufficient given the current data, and will allow for the most clear communication across ideologies going forward.

中文翻译：

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人类分类学中的概念问题：海德堡人与物种的民族生物学重构

努力来命名和分类中更新世智人，通常被称为“智人海德堡”的混淆形态的模式，但也相互冲突中嵌入的方法来古人类分类，命名和种概念古人类意识形态的阻碍。我们解构这些问题，以展示该领域对“真实”物种的搜索如何依赖于在后类型学世界中严格遵守前达尔文主义本质主义命名规则。然后我们检查中更新世人类通过民族生物学的框架，研究土著社会如何看待、分类和命名生物有机体。这项研究提醒我们，在整个人类社会中，分类法的作用是 (1) 基于共识模式识别对生物进行识别和分类，以及 (2) 构建稳定的命名法，以有效存储、检索和交流信息。命名中更新世智人作为“真实”物种无法用当前数据验证；并且将区域群体划分为不同的进化谱系会产生无法通过容易察觉或普遍显着的差异来定义的分类群。基于对这种模式的民族生物学研究，将这些人类根据其属名与修饰符（例如，“欧洲中更新世人类”）置于物种水平之上，与观察到的人类认知分化能力相一致，两者都是必要的考虑到当前的数据，足够，并且将允许在未来的意识形态之间进行最清晰的交流。