Genus Homo Origin

Homo erectus was first found in Africa and the fossilized remains dated 1.8 and 1.0 million years old. The Homo erectus traits are very similar toward the modern human traits. Homo erectus brain size was smaller than the Homo sapiens. Homo erectus had a brain size of approximately 650 cc and Homo sapiens had a brain size of approximately 1251

In the Article “Redrawing Humanity’s Family Tree” by John Noble Wilford, describes how two different skulls challenge the theories of human origins and migrations. The Central African skull, that dates back to nearly 7 million years ago, was assigned to a whole new genus and species because of its apelike and evolved hominid species. The 1.75-million-year-old Georgian skull shows evidence that the first hominids may have been intercontinental travelers who set motion the migrations that occupied the whole planet. Finally a third skull was found that is the same age and shares a resemblance but, the size of the skull suggests that the brain was smaller than expected for H. erectus.

Discoveries relating to the human lineage are extremely exciting and often baffling. This is the case with the recent discovery of what seems to be the oldest member of the human family. A skull found in northern Chad in 2001, has been deemed the earliest relative to the human ever found. Nicknamed Toumai, and discovered by Michel Brunet and his paleontology team, this new category of human has been given the scientific name, Sahelanthropus tchaensis. What makes this skull so definitive is the fact that it dates back approximately 6-7 million years in the earth’s history (Whitfield 2002). Since the discovery there have been anthropologists and paleontologists that have

Afropithecus is a fairly large extinct ape- 50kg, characterized by a lack of a prehensile tail, long snout with procumbent incisors, generalized limb proportions and thick molar enamel. The braincase of Afropithecus is fairly small in size compared to other Miocene apes and Old World Monkeys from the same area. The primitive characteristics of Afropithecus suggest a relation to early catarrhines- such as Aegyptopithecus. And the post-cranial fossil record suggest that it was both arboreal and quadrupedal, similar to the proconsul that Afropithecus is categorized

A recent discovery of four fossil primate teeth from the species Afrasia djijidae of the late middle Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar has stirred up the debate of our primate origins. This new finding suggests that members of this clade originated in Asia then dispersed to Africa sometime during the middle Eocene, shortly before their first appearance in the African fossil record. Afrasia Djijdae is morphologically similar to Afrotarsius (North African Anthropoid). Afroasia’s dentition is very similar yet more primitive to Afrotarsius. After these phylogenetic analysis the two anthropoids have been deemed

This article shows how Paleoanthropologist David Lordkipanidze and his group of archeologist discovered a 1.8 million-year-old skull fossil that could lead to knowing more about the earliest known ancestors of humans that ventured outside of Africa. Lordkipanidze’s excavation in the Georgia site known as Dmanisi. With this archeology find, it has been concluded that all early fossil humans belong to the same species known as Homo erectus. The article explains that the Dmanisi hominins had brains less than half the size of a modern human’s, and are key to understand the evolution and expansion these ancestors experienced from Africa to Eurasia. Genetic studies indicate that their expansion began from Africa about 1.9 million years ago. The article also mentions that with these new findings there can be a better ground from where to start to understand these ancestors as how they lived and socialized. Lordkipanidze does mention that the Dmanisi “were very primitive, we think there were social groups that connected with each other and learned from each other”.

There are two fossil species available to the study of Ardipithecus: Ar. ramidus and Ar. kadabba (Gibbons, 2009). There is much greater evidence to analyze Ar. ramidus, a hominine that lived from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene (Gibbons, 2009). The 1994 discovery of A. ramidus, commonly referred to as Ardi, included “125 pieces of her skeleton” such as “pelvis, hands, arms, leg, and feet” (Gibbons, 2009, p. 1598). Furthermore, it was determined that Ardi was a female “based on probability assessments of canine size” (White et al., 2009, p. 80). The same paper also argues paper that Ardi lived in the “Afar Rift region of northeastern Ethiopia” six

In this article “A New Kind of Ancestor: Ardipithecus Unveiled”, Ann Gibbon explains the discovery of an international Scientific’s team. This finding is the oldest known human ancestor skeleton and it has 4.4 million years. The Ardipithecus ramidus is the most complete earliest hominin found until now because it has the pelvis, hands, feets and most of the skull and teeth, it is bipedal and its features show a new early hominin, but is still being similar to other species.

The early African Homo Erectus fossils, which are sometimes called Homo egaster, are the oldest known early humans. They are similar to modern humans but taller, stronger, and had a pronounced ridge over their brow Many of their fossil remains have been found in places such as Africa and Asia, which can be dated to be about 1.6 million years old. From fossil findings researchers have revealed that these early humans have possessed modern-human-like body proportions. They have also found that these features are considered adaptations to live on the ground. Fossil remains have also revealed between Homo erectus and that of the Great Apes. One other link to Homo erectus is to that of a major innovation in stone technology. Throughout research and remnants of the Homo erectus scientist were able to discover evidence of the role of culture throughout this group of humans. Throughout our further findings we will look at variations and how it once effected Homo erectus, and the modern human of today. Great discoveries have been made, and with our technological advancement we can better our findings and interpretations of the characteristics and evolution of Homo erectus, so that we can have a better understanding of our evolution.

Hominin is a group of modern humans, extinct human species and all of our immediate ancestors, such as members of Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus. Of those members, Australopithecus is one of the extinct genuses of hominins. Based on paleontological and archaeological findings, the Australopithecus genus evolved in Eastern African around 4 million years ago. During this time period, different australopithecine species emerged, including A. afarensis, A. africanus, A. anamensis and A. garhi – to name a few.

here is an argument as to which Australopithecine gave rise to the genus homo. Evidence indicates that it was Australopithecus Sediba. The species lived 1.9 million years ago and greatly resembled Homo. According to Erin Wayman in his article Fossil Finds Complicate Search for Human Ancestor scientists still don't fully agree on where A. Sediba fits in the human family tree, but there is evidence to support it is possible ancestor. The study of two skeletons, on male one female, found in Malapa Cave in South Africa show that: the shape of the frontal lobe of the males brain is very similar to that of Homo. Also the pelvis had a mix of australopithecine- and homo-like traits leading scientists to believe they spend more time walking around and

The Australopithecus afarensis was a robust, early australopithecine that lived 3 to 3.6 million years ago (McFarland). The origin of this species name comes from two different factors. The first comes from the genus name, Australopithecus. This genus means “southern ape” and was originally developed for a species found in South Africa. The word afarensis is based on the location where some of the first fossils for this species were first discovered (Dorey). “Lucy” was an Au. afarensis that was discovered in Afar, Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago and “Dikika Child” was of the same species that was discovered in Dikika, Ethiopia 3.3 million years ago. Because to these discoveries, the Au. afarensis is one our best known ancestors due to Lucy’s

ramidus is native to Ethiopia, dated 4.4-5.8 million years ago. Two contrasting hypotheses may offer some insight as to why A. ramidus is thought to be bipedal but still considered arboreal . One, the savanna hypothesis, conjures the idea that “...the rise of African dry savanna…” (Potts, 1998, 107:93-136) sparked the evolutionary transition to bipedalism and tool-making within some hominins. The other theory, the woodland/forest hypothesis, suggests “...Pliocene hominins had evolved in and were primarily attracted to closed habitats” (Potts, 1998, 107:93-136), such as the forest habitat of A. ramidus. Both may be applicable to A. ramidus, considering her lower-half could support the savanna hypothesis, while her upper-half supports the woodland/forest hypothesis.

This specie, named naledi, has been classified into the genus, Homo, which includes modern humans. However, due to lack of information, this specie is thought to have three possible ages of existence. One, an early divergence of the specie Australopithecus anamensis,

In 2003 archaeologists discovered the remains of a possible early human ancestor in Indonesia. These remains were found in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island, Indonesia, and so far this is the only location where similar specimens have been found. It is estimated that H. floresiensis lived between 74,000 and 17,000 years ago (Olszewski, 2016). If this is accurate, it would have lived contemporarily with Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and most recently Homo sapiens. Homo floresiensis had an unusually short body and small brain size for a Homo in the Late Pleistocene. It displayed a Homo erectus cranial shape but not size, earlier Hominid-like limb proportions, and other primitive, advanced, and unique skeletal features. It was well suited for life on a densely forested isolated island that would have had a limited food source thus contributing to its small size (Lyras et al., 2008). There is much debate on whether these fossils represent a new species of Homo, whether it is a late survivor of the Homo erectus migration out of Africa, or even be classified within a group of hominids that migrated out of Africa pre-Homo erectus.