Early hominids Early hominids Ardipithecus is a very early hominin genus ( subfamily Homininae). Because it shares several traits with the African great apes (genus Pan and genus Gorilla), it is considered by some to be on the chimpanzee rather than human branch, but most consider it a proto-human because of a likeness in teeth with Australopithecus. A. ramidus lived about 5.4 and 4.2 million years ago during the early Pliocene. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ardipithecus"
The gracile australopithecines (members of the genus Australopithecus) are a group of extinct hominids that are closely related to humans. A. afarensis and A. africanus are among the most famous of the extinct hominids. A. africanus used to be regarded as ancestral to the genus Homo (in particular Homo erectus). However, fossils assigned to the genus Homo have been found that are older than A. africanus. Thus, the genus Homo either split off from the genus Australopithecus at an earlier date (the latest common ancestor being A. afarensis or an even earlier form), or both developed from an as yet possibly unknown common ancestor independently. The gracile australopithecines first appeared in the hominid fossil record between 5.4 to 1.5 million years ago. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus"
Australopithecus afarensis is a hominid which lived between 3.9 to 3 million years ago belonging to the genus Australopithecus, of which the first skeleton was discovered on November 24, 1974 by Donald Johanson, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Afar Depression of Ethiopia. They named it "Lucy" in reference to the famous Beatles song " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which was played as they celebrated the find. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus afarensis"
Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3.3 and 2.4 million years ago in the Pliocene. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus was slenderly built, or gracile, and was thought to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil remains indicate that A. africanus was significantly more evolved than A. afarensis however, with a more human-like cranium permitting a larger brain compared to body size and more humanoid facial features. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus africanus"
Australopithecus anamensis is a fossil species of Australopithecus. The first discovery (a single arm bone) was made by a research team in 1965. Believed to be four million years old, very little was known about the finding until in 1994 when British, Kenyan paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey discovered more evidence at Allia Bay at Kanapoi, near Lake Turkana, Kenya. Meave Leakey and her local colleagues excavating on the hot dusty terrain uncovered a few fragments of a hominid. The complete lower jaw found resembles that of a Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), but the teeth are definitely closer to those of Humans. Despite that they had uncovered hips, feet and legs; Meave believes that Australopithecus anamensis often climbed trees. Tree climbing for early hominins remained one ape-like trait that passed on until the first Homo species appeared about 2.5 million years ago. A. anamensis shares many traits similar to Australopithecus afarensis and may as well be its direct predecessor. A. anamensis is thought to have lived from 4.4 and 3.9 million years ago, coincidently when A. afarensis appears in the fossil record. Its name is derived from anam which means "lake" in the local Turkana language. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus anamensis"
Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a fossil hominin that was first discovered in 1993 by Michel Brunet at Bahr el Ghazal, Chad. The findings were located roughly 2,500 kilometers West from the East African Great Rift Valley and were only a few teeth and a partial jaw found in deposits thought to be 3.0 to 3.5 million years old. The mandible KT-12 discovered in 1995 has similar features to the dentation of Australopithecus afarensis. This species is a mystery to some as it is the only australopithecine fossil found in Central Africa. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus bahrelghazali"
Australopithecus garhi is a gracile australopithecine species whose fossils were discovered in 1996 by a research team led by Ethiopian paleontologist Berhane Asfaw and including Tim White, an American paleontologist researcher. The hominin remains were initially believed to be a human ancestor species and the final missing link between the Australopithecus genus and the human genus, Homo. However it is now believed that A. garhi, although more advanced than any other australopithecine, was only a competitor species to the species ancestral to Homo and therefore not a human ancestor. The remains are from the time when there is very few fossil records, between 2.0 and 3.0 million years ago. Tim White was the scientist to find the first of the key A. garhi fossils in 1996 near the village of Bouri, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The species was confirmed and established as A. garhi on November 20 1997 by Y. Haile-Selassie. The species epithet "garhi" means "surprise" in the local Afar language. ...more on Wikipedia about "Australopithecus garhi"
The Cro-Magnons form the earliest known European examples of Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. The term falls outside the usual naming conventions for early man and is used in a general sense to describe the oldest modern people in Europe. The oldest H. sapiens (i.e. anatomically modern humans) first emerged in Africa around 100,000 years ago. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cro-Magnon man"
Homo antecessor is an extinct hominin species that was discovered by E. Carbonell, J.L. Arsuaga and J.M. Bermudez de Castro. They are one of the earliest known hominins in Europe, with those from the site of Dmanisi being older. The best preserved fossil is a maxillar which belong to a 10 year old individual found in Spain dated to 780,000 years ago. The average brain was 1000 cc in volume. In 1994 and 1995, 80 fossils of six individuals that may have belonged to the species were found in Atapuerca, Spain. At the site were numerous examples of cuts on the bones, which indicates H. antecessor may have practiced cannibalism. Many anthropologists believe that Homo antecessor is either the same species or direct descendent to Homo heidelbergensis, who inhabited Europe from 600,000 to 250,000 years ago in the Pleistocene. It is suggested that this is the last common ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo antecessor"
Homo cepranensis is a proposed name for a hominin species discovered in 1994 known from only one skull cap. The fossil was discovered by archeologist Italo Biddittu and was nick-named "Ceprano Man" after a nearby town 89 kilometers Southeast of Rome, Italy. The age of the fossil is older than fossils attributable to Homo antecessor from Spain and is estimated to be between 800,000 and 900,000 years old. The cranial features on the bone seem to be a cross between those found on Homo erectus and those of later species such as Homo heidelbergensis which dominated Europe long before Homo neanderthalensis. There is yet not enough material to make a complete analysis of the individual. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo cepranensis"
Homo erectus ("upright man") is a hominin species that is believed to be an ancestor of modern humans (with Homo heidelbergensis usually treated as an intermediary step). The species is found from the middle Pleistocene onwards. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo erectus"
Homo erectus soloensis (formerly classified as Homo sapiens soloensis) is generally regarded as a subspecies of the extinct hominin, Homo erectus. The only known specimens of this anomalous hominid were retrieved from sites along the Bengawan Solo River, on the Indonesian island of Java. The remains are also commonly referred to as Ngandong, after the village near where they were first recovered. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo erectus soloensis"
Homo ergaster ("working man") is an extinct hominid species (or subspecies, according to some authorities) which lived throughout eastern and southern Africa between 1.9 to 1.4 million years ago with the advent of the lower Pleistocene and the cooling of the global climate. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo ergaster"
| species = H. floresiensis ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo floresiensis"
Homo georgicus is a species of hominin that was suggested in 2002 to describe fossil skulls and jaws found in Dmanisi, Georgia in 1999 and 2001, which seem intermediate between Homo habilis and H. erectus. A partial skeleton was discovered in 2001. The fossils are about 1.8 million years old. The remains were first discovered in 1991 by Georgian scientist, David Lordkipanidzeis accompanied by an international team which unearthed the hominin remains. Implements and animal bones were found alongside the ancient hominin remains. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo georgicus"
Homo habilis «HOH moh HAB uh luhs» ("handy man", "skillful person") is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2.5 million to 1.8 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene. The definition of this species is credited to both Mary and Louis Leakey, who found fossils in Tanzania, East Africa, between 1962 and 1964. Homo habilis is arguably the first species of the Homo genus to appear. In its appearance and morphology, H. habilis was the least similar to modern humans of all species to be placed in the genus Homo (except possibly Homo rudolfensis). Homo habilis was very short and had disproportionately long arms compared to modern man. It is thought to have probably descended from a species of australopithecine hominid. It may have had a more immediate ancestor in the form of the somewhat more massive and ape-like, Homo rudolfensis. Homo habilis had a brain slightly less than half of the size of modern man. These early human ancestors were small, on average standing no more than 1.3 m (4'3") tall. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo habilis"
Homo heidelbergensis (nicknamed " Goliath") is an extinct species of the genus Homo and the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. Similar "Archaic Homo sapiens" found in Africa (ie. Homo rhodesiensis and Homo sapiens idaltu) are thought to be direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens. Homo antecessor is likely a direct ancestor living 750,000 years ago evolving into Homo heidelbergensis appearing in the fossil record living roughly 600,000 to 250,000 years ago through various areas of Europe. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo heidelbergensis"
Homo rudolfensis is a fossil hominin species originally proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev for the specimen Skull 1470 (KNM ER 1470) . Originally thought to be a member of the species Homo habilis, much debate surrounded the fossil and its species assignment. Skull 1470 is an estimated age of 1.9 million years. It was found by Bernard Ngeneo, a member of a team led by anthropoligist Richard Leakey, in 1972 at Koobi Fora on the east side of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana). ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo rudolfensis"
Homo sapiens idaltu (roughly translated as "elderly wise man") is an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens that lived almost 160,000 years ago in Pleistocene Africa. Its fossilized remains were discovered in Ethiopia in 1997 by Tim White, but first unveiled in 2003. The fossils were found at Herto Bouri, a region of Ethiopia under volcanic layers. By using radioisotopes dating, the layers date between 154,000 and 160,000 years old. Three well preserved craniums are accounted for, the most well preserved is from an adult male (BOU-VP-16/1) having a brain capacity of 1450 cc. The other craniums include another partial adult male and a six year old infant. ...more on Wikipedia about "Homo sapiens idaltu"
Kenyanthropus platyops is a 3.5 to 3.2 million year old ( Pliocene) extinct hominin species that was discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999 by Meave Leakey. The fossil found features of a broad flat face with a toe bone that suggests it probably walked upright. Teeth are intermediate between typical human and typical ape forms. Kenyanthropus platyops, which means "Flat faced man of Kenya", is the only described species in the genus. However, if some paleoanthropologists are correct ( Tim White, 2003), Kenyanthropus may not even represent a valid taxon, as the specimen (KNM-WT 40000) is so horribly distorted by matrix-filled cracks that meaningful morphologic characters are next to impossible to robustly assess. It may simply be a specimen of Australopithecus afarensis, which is known from the same time period and geographic area. Other researches speculate that the flatter face position of the rough cranium is similar to KNM ER 1470 " Homo rudolfensis" and suspect it to be closer to the genus Homo, perhaps being a direct ancestor. However the debate has not been concluded and the species remains an enigma. ...more on Wikipedia about "Kenyanthropus platyops"
Maba Man (馬壩人) is the pre-modern hominids whose remains were discovered in caves near the town called Maba, near Shaoguan city in the north part of Guangdong province, China. ...more on Wikipedia about "Maba Man"
Meganthropus is a name commonly given to several large jaw and skull fragments from Sangiran, Central Java. The original scientific name was Meganthropus paleojavanicus, and while it is very uncommonly considered valid today, the genus name has survived as a sort of formal nickname for the fossils. As of 2005, the taxonomy and phylogeny for the specimens are still uncertain, although most paleoanthropologists considering them related to Homo erectus in some way. However, the names Homo paleojavanicus and even Australopithecus paleojavanicus are sometimes used as well, indicating the classification uncertainty. Of particular interest is that the finds were sometimes regarded as being those of giants, although that is unsubstantiated. ...more on Wikipedia about "Meganthropus"
The Mungo Man (also known as Lake Mungo 3) was an early human inhabitant of the continent of Australia, who is believed to have lived about 40,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. His remains were discovered at Lake Mungo, New South Wales in 1974. The remains are the oldest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia to date, although his exact age is a matter of ongoing dispute. Recent controversial analysis of Mungo Man's mitochondrial DNA has also led some researchers to challenge the single-origin hypothesis of human evolution. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mungo Man"
| species = H. neanderthalensis ...more on Wikipedia about "Neanderthal"
Orrorin tugenensis is considered as the second oldest possible hominin ancestor related to modern humans (other than Sahelanthropus tchadensis) and is the only species classified in genus Orrorin. The name was given by the discoverers who found Orrorin fossils near the village of Tugen, Kenya. By using radiometric dating techniques, the volcanic tuffs where the fossils were found date to between 6.1 and 5.8 million years ago, during the Miocene. The fossils found so far come from at least five individuals. They include a femur, suggesting that Orrorin walked upright; a thick right humerus, suggestive of tree-climbing skills but not brachiation; and teeth that suggest a diet much like that of modern humans. The full molars and small canines suggest that Orrorin ate mostly fruit and vegetables, with occasional meat. Orrorin was about the size of a modern chimpanzee. ...more on Wikipedia about "Orrorin tugenensis"
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