Sometimes referred to as Archaic Homo sapiens, Homo heidelbergensis fossils have been found in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

H. heidelbergensis retained many primitive traits such as a large face and separated brow ridge, but also derived features such as a larger brain size (1100-1300 cc) and anatomically modern frontal bone and cranial base.

H. heidelbergensis is associated with the first evidence of spear use. The type specimen for H. heidelbergensis is Mauer 1 which was found near Heidelberg, Germany and dates to approximately 500,000 years ago.