Ardipithecus ramidus   Australopithecus afarensis

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

Human Evolution

• Taxonomy & Characteristics

• History

  • 4 Genera, 4 Species of Homo, subfamily
        Homininae
    
  • 5 Key Traits

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

Phylogeny (Taxonomy+Time)

Primates Homininae Homo

Hominidae Traits Dimorphic

Key adaptations (arboreal):

1. grasping hands
2. color binocular vision
3. large brain

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

4. upright walking (bipedalism) +


• Early Great Apes Dryopithecus Kenyapithecus
• Left the trees ca. 20 - 4 million years ago
• Miocene global cooling & drying Bonnefille
  • climate change led to selective pressure and new species
  • groves of trees in a sea of grassland
    mobility, vision
  Bipedalism by 6-4 Ma

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

• First Humans
  • Ardipithecus
    Africa, 5.8-3.9 Ma, 300-350 cc
  • Australopithecus
    Africa, 4.2-2.5 Ma, 400-450 cc
  • Paranthropus
    Africa, 2.6-1.5 Ma, 450-530 cc
  • Homo
    Africa, 2.5 Ma - , 620 cc
    5. Culture
    
    

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

TOOLS first stone ca. 2.5 Ma
• Homo habilis 500-800 cc, 2.0 Ma
• Homo rudolphensis 750 cc, 2.5 Ma
• Homo ergaster 850 cc, 2.0 Ma
  better tools
  bigger brain (620 cc) and body
  
• FIRE? first used 1 - (1.5 Ma) (2Ma?)

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

Key events in evolution of Homo

• Homo erectus 1.5 - 0.2 Ma
  • Brain Size reached modern
  • Sophisticated tools +, fire
    boats? no adolescence [.]
  • Mobile: out of Africa 1.8 Ma H. e. georgicus
  Archaic Homo sapiens
• Homo sapiens heidelbergensis L 1.0 - 0.5 Ma
  • Huts 600,000 yr
    archaic Homo sapiens 0.5 - 0.2 Ma
    mitochondrial Eve 0.2 Ma
    & Y-chromosome Adam 0.09 Ma ! !

    ---

    <= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

Who are the Humans?

• Dead end for Homo erectus ?
• Homo sapiens
  1. Originated in Africa 0.5 0.2 Ma ‡
     "Out of Africa"
  2. Regional descent from Homo erectus
     "Multiregionalism"

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>

Homo neanderthalensis +

230-30 Ka, brain 1350 - 1500 cc
overlapped with H. erectus and H. sapiens

• First Evidence of Religion (Life after death)

• Homo sapiens neandertalensis or
• Homo neandertalensis
  • DNA DNA DNA
  • Growth 1 2 3 4
  • Extinction: Competition or Cold?

<= BACK     ^ TOP         NEXT =>