Human Evolution – The rise of Homo sapiens

Where to Begin? Right Now! The genetic analysis shown indicates that human ancestors migrated out of Africa three times in the last 1.7 million years.

We’ve Got Fossils

There’s LOTS of Extinct Primates that Came Before Us! This isn’t even a complete diagram! There are several identified fossil species missing – and there’s still over a dozen ancient hominids shown!

Modern Homo Species: from 1.7 MYA to today Genus of “modern” humans includes H. sapiens, H. neanderthalensis (neanderthals) And several others, including…

Homo erectus H. erectus is the species of Homo that originated in Africa and went on to populate the rest of the world, using fire and stone technology. We are their direct descendents.

“Archaic” Homo Species: ~2.8 to 1.7 MYA All were located exclusively in Africa Includes some australopithicus species, Homo habilis, and others.

The “Erects” – Our ancient ancestors on 2 legs. From ~ 5 MYA to ~2.8 MYA This is where arguments really get going as to who our “direct” ancestor species was. “Lucy” (3 MYA) is among these ancient homonids.

The Split with other Primate Lines Between 5 and 7 MYA Somewhere in Africa there was a single population of primate that gave rise to all of the species we just spoke of. This population was definetly a “gracile” ape. Little is known about the very earliest human ancestors because, as you might expect…

6-7 Million year old primate bones are all from Apes!

Just Remember – There’s Lots of Hominids in Earth’s History Homo sapiens are just the newest design of a 2-legged primate model that arose millions of years ago. It’s our brains that set us apart from all of the rest.

Perspective: 10,000 years = 10 4 years Imagine all of the time that has passed since the most ancient civilizations beginning in Egypt and Mesopotamia Every civilization there ever was… every king, every queen, every nation or people… all arose in this time

Multiply by 6 = 60,000 Years 60,000 years ago is the “great leap” to complex social organization, as indicated by early art and ceremony

Multiply BY 100! Think of every generation of people that has come and gone since our ancestors first figured out how to draw a picture on a wall. No try to imagine that all happening 100 times… That’s 6,000,000 years – when we split from the ape line.

30,000 generations That’s what separates us from our common ancestor with chimpanzees. Even if every generation was only a day long, that would still be over 80 years!!!

30,000 generations = 2 years in prokaryotes Prokaryotes are the easiest way to study evolution because some of them reproduce every 30 minutes… A prokaryote population can evolve as much (or more) in 2 years than humans have in 6,000,000.

Which of these looks most like your Homo sapiens skeleton? Human

The Primate Family Tree Colugo: most similar to primate without being a primate.

“Ida” Darwinius massilae: 47 MYA Not a human ancestor. Oldest known primate fossil. Gives clues as to what the first primate ancestors might have been like.

Mammals Mammal species over 65,000,000 years old are all similar in structure to small rats, mice, or shrews of today Tree Shrew: Living organism most similar to the extinct common ancestor of all primates

Animals Evolve: ~600 MYA Between 550 and 140 MYA, all of the common plant and animal phyla around today evolved.

Eukaryote evolution: Plants, Animals, and Microbes, oh my! Animals Unicellular groups Plants Fungi Amoebas Unicellular groups

The First common Ancestors of all Life: Archaea (prokaryotes)

3.7 Billion years ago – the first cells This is where biology begins. Before this, it’s all geology / astronomy / physics…

Birth of the Universe: The Big Bang What: Quantum singularity spontaneously transforms into pure energy. When: 13.7 x 10 9 years ago (BYA) Why it’s Important: Everything, including all space, time, matter, and energy in the Universe begins.

Formation of the Milky Way What: This is what our galaxy looks like when viewed from Earth, looking towards its center. There are about 2 x stars in it. There are billions of other galaxies in the Universe.

Milky Way from Above What: This is what our galaxy probably looks like when viewed from above. When: The oldest stars in the galaxy are about 13.2 x 10 9 years old.

The Solar System and Sun What: A protoplanetary disk that will become the Sun and planets condenses due to gravity in a molecular cloud of gas and dust. When: About 4.6 x 10 9 years ago.

Formation of Earth and Moon What: Massive collision produces the moon from the cooling proto-Earth When: About 4.5 x 10 9 years ago.