THE STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

Prosimians            65 million years ago                Monkeys     40 million years ago

Prehistoric apes    30-20 million years ago     Modern apes   17-4  million years ago

 

Ramapithecus: (pithecus = ape)  This creature lived about 14 - 8 M.Y.A. (Million Years Ago)

... the most ancient human ancestor

...a small ape-like creature (14 kg) which probably walked upright.

 

Australopithecus ramidus: (austral = southern;  ramidus = root)  4.4 M.Y.A.

... some teeth were human-like

... molars were like those of a chimpanzee

... ca. 1.2 meters tall.

... foramen magnum suggests upright walking

... arm bone structure was different from that of apes.

 

Australopithecus afarensis: (Afar = a region in Africa)

...4 - 2.8 M.Y.A.

..."Lucy", 3.5 million years old found by Don Johanson in 1974 in Hadar,

Ethiopia.  40% of her skeleton was found.  Laetoli footprints (3.8 M.Y.A)

in Tanzania, found by Mary Leakey, are the oldest evidence of bipedalism.

...possessed a small skull, ape-like features, low forehead, flat nose, no chin

but jutting jaws with massive teeth.

...brain was one third that of modern humans (1350 mm)

... was 1.1 m tall and weighed 30 kg.  She was no bigger than a six-year-old

 child.

... had great muscular strength                        ... lacked the power of speech.

... walked slightly bow-legged.  Its chimpanzee-like hips and curved toes

and finger bones suggest it spent much time in the trees.

... family groups would have foraged for plant foods including tough, hard,

or fibrous fruits and seeds.  Individuals might have used crude tools of wood

and stone to scavenge meat from carnevors' kills.   ... no evidence that tools

were made.

 

Australopithecus africanus: (africanus = African) 3 - 2 M.Y.A.

... most famous fossil is Taung Child (2 - 1  M.Y.A.).  Found by Raymond

Dart in 1924.

...close in size to an ape (12-year-old)  ... brain smaller than that of Homo

erectus.

... upright with large teeth shaped like those of a human

... average age of death was 22 years.

 

Australopithecus robustus: (robustus = strong) (2 - 1.5 M.Y.A.)

...1.6 m tall, 50 kg.                                ...the ultimate chewing machine

... average age of death was 17 years.

 

Australopithecus boisei: (1.8 M.Y.A.)

... nut cracker human, a more massive version of A. robustus from which

it may have evolved.

...the height of a modern man but with a structure resembling the gorilla.

 

Homo habilis: (homo = human;              habilis = able)  2 - 1.5 M.Y.A.

...Handy human; evidence of the manufacture of stone tools

...face still primitive.

...brain one half the size of a modern human.

...more sophisticated with rudimentary speech...   may have built first shelters

 

Homo erectus: (1.6 million to 200 000 years ago.)

... upright human;  protruding jaw, no chin, thick brow ridges and a long

 skull

...teeth smaller than in habilis

...much larger brain than habilis (1000 mm)

...may have had advanced speech  ... controlled fire

...made more sophisticated tools then predecessors.

... left Africa and spread throughout Asia and Europe

 

Homo sapiens: (sapiens = thinking, 400 000 to 40 000 years ago, Southern Africa)

...human the wise or thinking

...appearance very similar to a modern human

...high forehead encasing a large brain, lower jaw with chin

...evidence of spiritual development (burials in Shanidar cave, north Iraq)

...the earliest Homo sapiens were Neanderthals

 

Homo sapiens sapiens            (... 40 000 to present)

...human the very wise (wise, wise or thinking, thinking)

...excellent hunter, sophisticated weapons, control over environment

...spread to North America and Australia

...first to develop art (Cave paintings and Venus figures)

...earliest Homo sapiens sapiens were Cromagnons.

QUESTIONS ON STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

1.         Which species was the most ancient human ancestor yet discovered?

2.         Which species was Lucy?  Which human characteristics did this species

have?  Which ape characteristics?

3.         Which human characteristics did the Taunt Child have?

4.         What does Homo sapiens mean?  What was the name of the earliest of this

species?

5.         What does Homo habilis mean?  What was this species the first to

manufacture?

6.         Which was the first hominid to control fire?  What does the name of this

species mean?

7.         From which species did Australopithecus boisei evolve?  Which type of ape

did boisei resemble?

8.         Which species provides the oldest evidence of bipedalism to date?

9.         Which were the fist two hominids believed to have been able to talk?

10.       When did Cromagnons appear?  What were they the first to develop?