Search results
Homo (from Latin homō 'human') is a genus of Hominidae (great apes) that emerged from the genus Australopithecus and encompasses the extant species Homo sapiens (modern humans) and a number of extinct species (collectively called archaic humans) classified as either ancestral or closely related to modern humans.
- Homo Rhodesiensis
Homo rhodesiensis is the species name proposed by Arthur...
- Homo Luzonensis
Homo luzonensis, also known as Callao Man and locally called...
- Homo Antecessor
Homo antecessor (Latin "pioneer man") is an extinct species...
- Homo Heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis (also H. erectus heidelbergensis, [1]...
- Homo Floresiensis
Homo floresiensis (/ f l ɔːr ˈ ɛ z iː ˌ ɛ n. s ɪ s / also...
- H. Sapiens
Humans (Homo sapiens, meaning "thinking man") or modern...
- Timeline of Human Evolution
The timeline of human evolution outlines the major events in...
- Homo Erectus
Homo erectus (/ ˌ h oʊ m oʊ ə ˈ r ɛ k t ə s /; meaning...
- Homo Neanderthalensis
Neanderthals (/ n i ˈ æ n d ər ˌ t ɑː l, n eɪ-,-ˌ θ ɑː l /...
- Australopithecus
Australopithecus (/ ˌ ɒ s t r ə l ə ˈ p ɪ θ ɪ k ə s,-l oʊ-/,...
- Homo Rhodesiensis
People also ask
What genus is Homo?
Where did Homo come from?
Why did Homo get its name?
Are there other species of Homo?
Humans (Homo sapiens, meaning "thinking man") or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus Homo. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligence.
Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species of the hominid family that includes all the great apes. [1] .
The timeline of human evolution outlines the major events in the evolutionary lineage of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, throughout the history of life, beginning some 4 billion years ago down to recent evolution within H. sapiens during and since the Last Glacial Period.
- Taxonomy
- Anatomy
- Culture
- External Links
Research history
The first fossil, Mauer 1 (a jawbone), was discovered by a worker in Mauer, southeast of Heidelberg, Germany, in 1907. It was formally described the next year by German anthropologist Otto Schoetensack, who made it the type specimen of a new species, Homo heidelbergensis. He split this off as a new species primarily because of the mandible's archaicness—in particular its enormous size—and it was the then-oldest human jaw in the European fossil record at 640,000 years old. The mandible is well...
Classification
In palaeoanthropology, the Middle Pleistocene is often termed the "muddle in the middle" because the species-level classification of archaic human remains from this time period has been heavily debated. The ancestors of modern humans (Homo sapiens or H. s. sapiens) and Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis or H. s. neanderthalensis) diverged during this time period, and, by convention, H. heidelbergensis is typically considered the last common ancestor (LCA). This would make H. heidelbergensis a...
Evolution
H. heidelbergensis is thought to have descended from African H. erectus — sometimes classified as Homo ergaster — during the first early expansions of hominins out of Africa beginning roughly 2 million years ago. Those that dispersed across Europe and stayed in Africa evolved into H. heidelbergensis or speciated into H. heidelbergensis in Europe and "H. rhodesiensis" in Africa, and those that dispersed across East Asia evolved into H. erectus s. s. The exact derivation from an ancestor specie...
Skull
In comparison to Early Pleistocene H. erectus/ergaster, Middle Pleistocene humans have a much more modern human-like face. The nasal opening is set completely vertically in the skull, and the anterior nasal sill can be crested or sometimes a prominent spine. The incisive canals (on the roof of the mouth) open near the teeth, and are orientated like those of more recent human species. The frontal bone is broad, the parietal bone can be expanded, and the squamous part of temporal bone is high a...
Size
Trends in body size through the Middle Pleistocene are obscured due to a general lack of limb bones and non-skull (post-cranial) remains. Based on the lengths of various long bones, the SH humans averaged roughly 169.5 cm (5 ft 7 in) for males and 157.7 cm (5 ft 2 in) for females, with maximums of respectively 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) and 160 cm (5 ft 3 in). The height of a female partial skeleton from Jinniushan is estimated to have been quite tall at roughly 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) in life, much tall...
Build
The human body plan had evolved in H. ergaster, and characterises all later Homo species, but among the more derived members there are two distinct morphs: A narrow-chested and gracile build like modern humans, and a broader-chested and robust build like Neanderthals. It was once assumed that the Neanderthal build was unique to Neanderthals based on the gracile H. ergaster partial skeleton "KNM WT-15000" ("Turkana Boy"), but the discovery of some Middle Pleistocene skeletal elements (though g...
Food
Middle Pleistocene communities in general seem to have eaten big game at a higher frequency than predecessors, with meat becoming an essential dietary component. In Europe, Homo heidelbergensis is known to have consumed the largest megafauna species present in the region, the straight-tusked elephant (which has been found at numerous sites with cut marks and/or stone tools indicating butchery) and rhinoceroses belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus. At the Schöningen spear horizon in Germany,...
Art
Upper Palaeolithic modern humans are well known for having etched engravings seemingly with symbolic value. As of 2018, only 27 Middle and Lower Palaeolithic objects have been postulated to have symbolic etching, out of which some have been refuted as having been caused by natural or otherwise non-symbolic phenomena (such as the fossilisation or excavation processes). The Lower Palaeolithic ones are: a 400,000 to 350,000 years old bone from Bilzingsleben, Germany; three 380,000-year-old pebbl...
Language
The SH humans had a modern humanlike hyoid bone (which supports the tongue), and middle ear bones capable of finely distinguishing frequencies within the range of normal human speech. Judging by dental striations, they seem to have been predominantly right-handed, and handedness is related to the lateralisation of brain function, typically associated with language processing in modern humans. So, it is postulated that this population was speaking with some early form of language. Nonetheless,...
Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History(August 2016).Feb 2, 2021 · The long evolutionary journey that created modern humans began with a single step—or more accurately—with the ability to walk on two legs. One of our earliest-known ancestors, Sahelanthropus ...
Scientific study of human evolution is mostly concerned with the development of the genus Homo, but usually involves studying other hominids and hominines as well, such as Australopithecus. "Modern humans" are defined as the Homo sapiens species, of which the only living subspecies is known as Homo sapiens sapiens.
