Primitive features of Homo heidelbergensis include a higher forehead, a skull with more vertical sides, a large, prognathic face, and a lack of a projecting chin.
Derived features of Homo heidelbergensis include small brow ridges, a higher forehead, thin cranial bones, and a sagittal keel.
Genetic data from fossils found at Denisova Cave indicates that the Denisovans are a form of Neanderthal. Neanderthals and other hominins of the time were genetically isolated. Denisovans, a population that predates 50,000 years, share a common ancestor with Neanderthals after the Neanderthal-human split. A very small-bodied form of Homo ergaster or erectus evolved in Europe.
The current estimate for the first appearance of Homo heidelbergensis is between 1 Ma and 500,000 years ago.