HumanEvolution

Human evolution  It is believed that human evolution split from chimpanzee about 8-6 million years ago.  The earliest fossil fragments are Ardipithecus kadabba which are 5.8 to 5.6 myo

Main Features of Hominids: 1.Opposable Thumb 2.Upright, bipedal 3.Large Cranial Capacity

Primate skeleton comparison

Three hominids

Fossil evidence  All of the earliest fossils are found in Africa  From there, humans spread around the world  The fossil record is not complete  There are different interpretations of the data

Human Evolution Difference between Humans and their ancestors:

Human Hands: Grip

Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal man  It appears that 2 sub- species of humans lived 30,000 years ago during the Ice Ages in Europe  Both had tools and culture  Neanderthals disappeared, and descendants of Cro- Magnon are modern humans today  2-6% of their DNA is Neanderthal

Proposed timeline

milestones Art: 35,000 Burial: 300,000 Fire: 120,000 Tools: 2.8 My Bipedal: 4+My

Family portraits  A: Aus. anamensis  B: Aus. afarensis  C: Aus. africanus  D: Aus robustus  E: Homo habilis  F: Homo sapiens neanderthal  G: Homo sapiens sapiens

Recent fossil finds  “Hobbit” fossils on Flores island 2003 Adults were 3.6 “ tall 18,000 years old  Georgian fossils (Russia)2013. Had been Fossils were eaten by carnivores. 1.8 m years old 2 million years old

review  1. What is man’s closest relative?  2. Where did humans first evolve?  3. Why are hands and bipedalism so important?  4. How did tools and fire help early humans to survive? Artist’s recreation of Georgian fossil Flores fossil

And then………?