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If the discoverers are correct, the fossils represent a hominid of an entirely new genus and species. Orrorin means original man in the local dialect. At an age of 6 million years, it could be one of the first hominids living after their split from lineages leading to other great apes

Early Humans Lived In Forests

Evidence for this species is made up of 13 fossils, including a partial femur, bits of a lower jaw, and several teeth. One of the few things about O. tugenensis that is not controversial is its age. Sediments in which the bones were found have consistently been dated at 6 million years old, making O. tugenensis the oldest hominid by far, if in fact the species is a hominid.

Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba

Carbon isotope evidence in almost 6-million-year-old soils suggests that the earliest humans already were evolving in and likely preferred humid forests over grasslands in Ethiopia.

Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia

This is an abstract by Yohannes Haile-Selassie, in Nature 412:178-181 (2001). The abstract states: Molecular studies suggest that the lineages leading to humans and chimpanzees diverged approximately 6.55.5 million years (Myr) ago, in the Late Miocene. Here I report new hominid specimens from the Middle Awash area of Ethiopia that date to 5.25.8 Myr and are associated with a wooded palaeoenvironment. These Late Miocene fossils represent the earliest definitive evidence of the hominid clade. Derived dental characters are shared exclusively with all younger hominids. This indicates that the fossils probably represent a hominid taxon that postdated the divergence of lineages leading to modern chimpanzees and humans. However, the primitive dental and postcranial characters in these new fossils indicates that Ardipithecus was phylogenetically close to the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.

Teeth and Bones Stir Human Debate

An international team of scientists has discovered fossil teeth and bones from a creature they say is the earliest on our branch of the family tree. But it is not the first such claim and this latest find is sure to stir up further debate about exactly who our earliest ancestors were.

Teeth, Bones From 5-Million-Year-Old Hominid Uncovered

Fossilized remnants of the animal, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba, indicate it was about the size of a modern chimpanzee, says Yohannes Haile-Selassie, a graduate student from the University of California, Berkeley that made the find along with colleagues.

Ardipithecus ramidus

This early fossil hominid was initially placed within the Australopithecus genus, with a new specific epithet - ramidus (from the Afar word "ramid", meaning "root") [White, et al, 1994]. Tim White and associates have subsequently reassigned the hominid to a new genus, noting the apparently extreme dissimilarities between ramidus and all other known Australopithecines. They proposed Ardipithecus (from "ardi", which means "ground" or "floor" in the Afar language) to be the genus [White, et al, 1995].

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

What distinguishes A. ramidus from other hominid species are its larger upper and lower canines in relation to the post-canine teeth. Ramidus is generally regarded as the earliest specimen in the hominid ancestry, dating to approximately 4.4 million years.

A New Species from Ethiopia

This paper, written by C. David Kreger, is a technical treatise discussing the environment A. ramidus, and its relationship to modern primates.

Both the antiquity, around 4.4 mya, and the primitive morphology suggested an ancestral species for the Hominidae. Prior to this publication the earliest hominid species was Australopithecus afarensis, dated to between 3.0 and 3.6 (possibly 3.8) mya.

A New Species of Early Hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 371, 306312 (1994). Now known as Ardipithecus ramidus, this extremely primitive creature was the first member of the human family known from beyond 4 million years ago. Still controversial, its affinities with the new finds from Chad have yet to be investigated.

See also White, T. D. et al., Corrigendum. Australopithicus ramidis,a New Species of Early Hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia. Nature 375:88 (1995).

Flat-faced Man is a Puzzle

This link is part of the Origins of Mankind Section on PBS's site made in conjunction with their special on evolution.

Kenyanthropus platyops

Leakey and her fellow researchers have called the creature Kenyanthropus platyops - the Flat-Faced Man of Kenya - and claim it represents an entirely new branch on our family tree.

Kenyanthropus.com

Discovered by Meave Leakey and her team in 1998 west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, K. platyops was described in 2001 in Nature as a new genus dating back to the middle Pliocene, 3.5 MYA., positioning itself as a possible direct ancestor of modern humans.

This link is part of the Origins of Mankind Section on PBS's site made in conjunction with their special on evolution.

Australopithecus anamensis

Australopithecus anamensis

Though not recognized as such for 30 years, the first Australopithecus anamensis discovery occurred in the Kanapoi region of East Lake Turkana in 1965 by a Harvard University expedition.

A new four-million-year-old hominid species from Kenya. Ardipithecus ramidis extended the temporal distribution of hominids to 4.4 Mya. The relationship between Australopithecus afarensis and Ardipithecus ramidis, a potential ancestral species for all Hominidae, can now be assessed with more temporally intermediate evidence [by this find].

Leakey, M. et al.,. New four-million-year-old hominid species from Kanapoi and Allia Bay, Kenya. Nature 376:565-571 (1995).

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

Australopithecus anamensis was discovered in 1994 by Meave Leakey at the sites of Allia Bay and Kanapoi, both East African sites in Northern Kenya.

This species was initially discovered (but not identified) in 1965, by a Harvard expedition led by B. Patterson. A distal end of a humerus (KNM-KP 271) was recovered from a site on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya, a site called Kanapoi.

Ancestors Walked on Knuckles

Australopithecus anamensis possesses a mix of advanced and primitive traits. A partial tibia (the larger of the two lower leg bones) suggests that A. anamensis probably walked upright.

Australopithecus afarensis

Humanity's early ancestors did not walk fully upright, but probably scooted along on their knuckles, like chimpanzees and gorillas do today. That is the conclusion of two scientists who studied the wrist bones of Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis, and found that she had stiff wrists.

The species A. afarensis is one of the better known australopithecines, merely with regard to the number of samples attributed to the species. The species was named by D. Johanson and T. White in 1978.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

One of the earliest of modern man's ancestors, Australopithecus afarensis lived between 4 million and 3.2 million years ago in eastern Africa. The teeth and jaws of two dozen hominids where uncovered at Laetoli in Tanzania along with a now famous set of footprints where two early men once walked along the shore of an ancient lake around 3.6 million years ago. More individuals were also found at Hadar in Ethiopia and another at Lake Turkana in Kenya.

Australopithecus afarensis was deemed a species and subsequently named by Tim White and Don Johanson in 1978. Dated to between 4 million and 2.7 million years old, afarensis remains have been consistently found along East Africa's Northern Rift Valley.

Lucy

How we know what we know? From the Institute of Human Origins.

Pliocene Footprints in the Laetolil Beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania

Australopithecus afarensis had a very low forehead, a face that projected far forward (as viewed in profile), and a very prominent brow ridge.

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 278, 317323 (1979). When a volcanic eruption sent a rain of ash over what is now Tanzania, an adult and child, probably both A. afarensis, set out to watch the show leaving, as a poignant souvenir, perfect and very modernlooking footprints, preserved in the ashfall.

Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Discoveries in Hadar, Ethiopia

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 260, 293297 (1976) Donald Johanson pushes the human story back beyond the 3-million-year-mark with a skeleton, later assigned to Australopithecus afarensis. The skeleton is now known as "Lucy," after Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the Beatles' tune popular in the field camp.

Inhabiting eastern Africa between four and three million years ago, Australopithecus afarensis was a long-lived species that may have given rise to the several lineages of early human that appeared in both eastern and southern Africa between two and three million years ago.

Australopithecus bahrelghazali

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

The species designation of Australopithecus bahrelghazali is a new one, which has little support at present among most researchers. This is due to the small sample size, its recent designation, and the affinity of the specimen to afarensis material.

Australopithecus garhi

The naming of a new species is almost always controversial, and Australopithecus garhi is no exception. Named in the April 23, 1999, issue of Science, the large research group that discovered the finds made some broad claims and supposition that is definitely not accepted by all, though any real acceptance of these claims and/or hypotheses will have to come later on, as time enough passes for the information has been fully disseminated, others have had a chance to examine the remains, and the dust has settled.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

Suspicions exist that the East African Australopithecus garhi may represent an evolutionary link between Australopithecus and Homo.

A New Human Ancestor?

A. garhi may represent an evolutionary link between the genera of Australopithecus and Homo. It is probably descended from A. afarensis and adds a potential ancestor for the genus Homo. The remains are from the time when there is very few fossils, between 2.0-3.0 mya.

Australopithecus garhi may represent an evolutionary link between the genera of Australopithecus and Homo. Circumstantial evidence suggests that A. garhi may have been the earliest tool user.

Australopithecus [Paranthropus] aethiopicus

Artist rendition of Paranthropus aethiopicus

The discovery of KNM-WT 17000 (the "Black Skull") in 1986 proved to be an important part of the australopithecine puzzle. Very little is known about Australopithecus aethiopicus, since so few specimens have been attributed to the species, but the features that are known provide important insights into the possible evolutionary history between the "robust" and "gracile" australopithecines. In general, aethiopicus shows a mixture of both primitive and derived features, and dates to a time that makes it a significant addition into the hominid phylogenetic tree.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

The first fossil of Paranthropus aethiopicus was discovered in 1967 by a French excavation team at the Omo River in Ethiopia. This Eastern African specimen would come to be recognized as the type fossil for P. aethiopicus.

By 2.7 million years ago, a new lineage of early humans had evolved in East Africa. Paranthropus aethiopicus was originally proposed in 1967 by a team of French paleontologists to describe a partial mandible (Omo 18) that was thought to differ enough from the mandibles of the early human species known at that time.

Australopithecus [Paranthropus] boisei

The discovery of the specimen OH 5 ("Zinj") in 1959, by Mary Leakey, was a watershed in the history of paleoanthropology. The find vindicated Louis and Mary Leakey's work at Olduvai (which had been relatively fruitless over the previous 30 years), which led to renewed research interest in the area, added an important stage in a relatively sparse hominid lineage at the time, and also was important in focusing attention on multidisciplinary research.

Paranthropus boiseii had a skull high specialized for heavy chewing. Boisei inhabited the dry savannah grasslands of Eastern Africa during a period from 2.5 to 1 million years ago.

A New Fossil Skull from Olduvai

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 184, 491493 (1959). Fossil-hunter Louis Leakey had been scouring East Africa for clues about human origins in vain for 30 years before he (or rather, his wife) hit the jackpot at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The new player on the fossil scene was lantern-jawed "Nutcracker man."

Australopithecus boisei is similar in body and brain size to A. robustus. Like members of many other Australopithecus species, males and females of A. boisei showed marked differences in size.

In the time period dating from 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago eastern Africa was populated by the early human species Paranthropus boisei.

Australopithecus [Paranthropus] robustus

The species Australopithecus robustus was first discovered and named by the eminent Dr. Robert Broom. Broom made a habit of buying fossil remains from a lime quarry worker, and on a particular visit on June 8, 1938, Broom bought a maxillary fragment containing a first molar.

First appearing about 1.8 million years ago and disappearing around 1 million years ago, Australopithecus robustus lived in eastern Africa.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

Most Complete Apeman Skull Ever Excavated

Paranthropus robustus was originally discovered in Southern Africa in 1938. The development of robustus, namely in cranial features, seemed to be aimed in the direction of a "heavy-chewing complex."

Paranthropus robustus, a hominid that lived between 1.5 million and 2 million years ago, was a vegetarian that may have used rudimentary bone tools.

Australopithecus robustus possesses a combination of primitive and derived physical traits. While its brain size is much like that of A. afarensis, other characteristics are quite different.

From around 2 million to 1.2 million years ago, southern Africa was inhabited by a robust species of early human. From the original finds in 1938 and later finds in 1948, it was evident that they represented very different early human morphologies than were seen in the known Australopithecus specimens.

Australopithecus africanus

The species of Australopithecus africanus was named in a February, 1925, issue of Nature by Raymond Dart. Dart was one of the pioneers of paleoanthropology, and created quite a furor over naming the fossil specimen (the Taung Child skull and endocast) a hominid.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

Australian anatomist at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, named Raymond Dart, discovered the first australopithecine in 1924.

Man-Ape of South Africa

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 115, 195199 (1925) When R. A. Dart, an anatomist from South Africa, reported the first "ape-man." He was derided by the same people who fell for the fraudulent Piltdown Man. But Piltdown was a fake and Dart was vindicated. The modern study of human origins starts here.

Australopithecus africanus was nearly identical in body and brain size to A. afarensis. Like A. afarensis, A. africanus also showed marked differences in size between males and females.

The Transvaal region of South Africa was the home to the species Australopithecus africanus, which lived 3.3 to 2.5 million years ago. This species was the first of the australopiths to be described; Raymond Dart named the genus and species in 1925 after his discovery of the famous Taung child.

Homo habilis

Homo habilis is a well-known, but poorly defined species. The specimen that led to the naming of this species (OH 7) was discovered in 1960, by the Leakey team in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

Homo habilis first appeared around 2.5 million years ago. Fossils of H. habilis were first discovered in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and named by Louis Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

A New Species of the Genus Homo from Olduvai Gorge

The Eastern African specimen: Homo habilis represents a pivotal phase in hominid evolution. Scientists have marked habilis as the beginning of the Homo line, where hominids are recognized as breaking off from the australopithecine classification.

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 202, 79 (1964). Leakey scores again with fossils associated with primitive tools. He announces Homo habilis, "handy man," the first fossil member of our own genus; and with him, the first stirrings of technology.

Homo habilis has been a controversial species since it was first described in the mid-1960s.

Until 1964, Australopithecus remains had been found in Africa, but remains of the oldest representative of the genus Homo had been recognized only in Asia. In that year, however, Louis Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier announced the new species Homo habilis, or "handy man". They had to redefine the genus to accommodate this oldest form.

Homo rudolfensis

Evidence for an Advanced Plio-Pleistocene Hominid from East Rudolf, Kenya

The species designation of Homo rudolfensis is a much debated topic, over both whether it is a separate species, and if it is an australopithecine rather than a member of the genus Homo.

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 242, 447450 (1973). Richard Leakey, son of Louis, describes a skull as iconic as they come, but always known enigmatically as "1470." Thought to belong to an early form of Homo (now H. rudolfensis), this specimen is a key fossil in the understanding of human origins.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

The beginnings of the Eastern African species: Homo rudolfensis came in 1993 when scientists found a mandible that was less robust and with smaller cheek teeth than is the case amongst australopithecines. Placed under the classification of Homo, H. rudolfensis stood as a contemporary of Homo habilis.

The species Homo rudolfensis was originally proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev for the specimen, KNM ER 1470.

Homo ergaster

Early Human Evolution: Homo ergaster and erectus

Homo ergaster is one of the more problematic of somewhat accepted species designations currently tossed around in anthropological literature. Each individual researcher that sees ergaster as a valid taxon sees different specimens as belonging or not belonging to the taxon.

By 1.8 million years ago, one of the early transitional human populations had evolved into a new, fully human species in Africa. Most paleoanthropologists refer to them as Homo erectus.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

Homo ergaster in Eurasia (May 2000)

Anatomically, the African Homo ergaster is similar to the Eurasian Homo erectus. The differentiation comes in the higher cranial vault and lighter frame and facial structure of H. ergaster, as well as in the earlier dates with which ergaster is associated.

Homo ergaster

Many aspects of Homo ergaster and Homo erectus anatomy are, of course, similar, with the principal differences being a higher cranial vault, thinner cranial bone, absence of sagittal keel, and certain cranial base characteristics in Homo ergaster. One distinguishing feature between early Homo and ergaster/erectus involves increased brain size (ranging between 850 and 1100 cc, with an increase over time), although the increase in body size actually means that the relative brain size has increased but little.

A nearly complete fossil cranium and another skullcap, representing the earliest known human ancestors from Eurasia, may also belong to the first hominid species to journey out of Africa. A team of Georgian, German, French and U.S. researchers describe these First Eurasians from the site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia in the 12 May issue of Science.

Later finds at the same site are called H. erectus. Fossil Signs of First Human Migration Are Found : Scientists digging in the Republic of Georgia have found 1.7-million-year-old fossil human skulls that show clear signs of African ancestry and so may represent the species that first migrated out of Africa.

By 1.9 million years ago, another lineage of the genus Homo emerged in Africa. This species was Homo ergaster. Traditionally, scientists have referred to this species as Homo erectus and linked this species name with a proliferation of populations across Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Homo erectus

Early Homo erectus Skeleton from West Lake Turkana, Kenya

Throughout the early years of paleoanthropology, there were only two different species that were attributed to the genus Homo. These included the Neanderthals, and Homo erectus. In the early 1960s, this began to change, and human ancestry seemed to be populated by many different players. Accordingly, erectus is one of the better-known members of genus Homo, especially in terms of its well-established place in paleoanthropology. This has begun to change, however, and now some question its place in human evolution.

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 316, 788792 (1985). This report of a young but surprisingly tall young Homo erectus male raises many questions about our own African genesis, and the origins of that very human feature called "childhood."

Homo Erectus was first discovered in 1891 by Eugene Dubois. Dr. Dubois, a Dutch anatomist, found a cranium and thighbone while digging in Trinil, Java. He named this new species Pithecanthropus erectus, though no one was initially sure if these bones belonged to a human or even to the same animal.

Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution in China

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

It includes a picture gallery of important fossil specimens, maps detailing the distribution of human fossils, and a time line.

Multiregional Hypothesis -- H. erectus in China

Dated to between 1.7 million and 300,000 years, the Eurasian species: Homo erectus represents one the hominids closest, in eveolutionary terms, to Homo sapiens.

Nanjing Man's age suggests that Asian erectus had a longer time to evolve into modern hominids than previously thought. This makes it less likely for modern hominids from Africa to have replaced Asian erectus. [see older fossils of H. erectus from Republic of Georgia]

Homo erectus, unlike H. habilis and all of the Australopithecus species, ranged far beyond Africa.

To understand what we mean today by "Homo erectus", some history of paleoanthropological thought is needed. The first early human fossil found outside of Europe was the Trinil 2 fossil skullcap from the Solo River in Java.

Homo Heidelbergensis (also referred to as Archaic Homo sapiens

In 1907, at the Mauer sand pits in Germany, a nearly complete mandible was discovered by a quarry worker. This mandible (Mauer 1) validated Otto Schoetensack's conviction that there would be Pleistocene human remains found in the quarry amid the more common rhino, bear, elephant, bison, deer, and horse remains. Schoetensack published an extensive monograph on the mandible a year later in which he designated it to a new species of hominid, Homo heidelbergensis.

Archaic Homo

This species is often also referred to as "Archaic Homo sapiens." Many examples of so-called Archaic H. sapiens have been located, including some recent spectacular finds at Atapuerca, in northeast Spain. These remains of many individuals include some that may be 780,000 years old. According to some proponents of the "Out of Africa" hypothesis, most of these specimens should be assigned to H. heidelbergensis, which may have been ancestral to Neanderthals in Europe and to H. sapiens in Africa. However, in May 1997, the discoverers of the fossils elected to name the fossils a new species, H. antecessor. Multiregionalists view this group as evidence of a transition toward modern H. sapiens.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

The type specimen of European species: Homo heidelbergensis, the Mauer mandible, was found in 1907. Dated to 500,000 years, this mandible combined more primitive traits (the robusticity of the build) with more modern traits (smaller molar size).

Skulls

The Australian Museum has a page with numerous views of skulls of Homo heidelbergensis.

Atapuerca, Home of Humanity?

Homo heidelbergensis is the species name now given to a range of specimens from about 800,000 years ago to the appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens (the species to which we belong).

Homo antecessor also known as Archaic Homo sapiens

AMNH

This site, put together by the Maerican Museum of Natural History, guides the reader through an online display discussing Homo antecessor, possibly our closest relation among the hominids.

Archaic Homo

In 1994 archaeological digs on the hill of Atapuerca in northern Spain revealed a possible new human species, Homo antecessor, that some scientists argue is the common ancestor of modern humans and Neandertals. This is a beautiful website to visit and learn about paleoanthropology.

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

In the Beginning was the Vowel

The find at Gran Dolina at Atapuerca, Spain yielded a trove of fossil specimens, listed below, that now classify as Homo antecessor. The species was designated by J.L. Arsuaga.

A Hominid from Spain

By 1997 over 1600 human remains had been excavated, representing at least 32 individuals, the largest repository of fossil humans from the Middle Pleistocene. Most of these have been found in Sima de los Huesos. They include a complete skull and several other crania.

See Bermúdez de Castro, J. M. et al., A Hominid from the Lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Spain: Possible Ancestor to Neanderthals and Modern Humans. Science 276:1392-1395 (1997).

Gutin, JoAnn C., Remains in Spain Now Reign As Oldest Europeans. Science 269:754-755 (1995).

Parés, J. M. and A. Pérez-Gonzalez. 1995. Paleomagnetic Age for Hominid Fossils at Atapuerca Archaeological Site, Spain. Science 269:830-832 (1995).

Humans were able to talk 300,000 years ago, new research has shown. Pre-Neanderthals who lived in northern Spain could utter basic vowel sounds, say researchers working at the Atapuerca archaeological site in Burgos Province.

Three new human skulls from a Middle Pleistocene site in Spain

A .pdf file photocopy of a classic paper in paleoanthropology from Nature 362, 534537 (1993). The "Pit of Bones" near Burgos in Spain is a treasure-trove of information on the first Europeans. At around 300,000 years old, these skulls may have been close to the ancestry of the classic cave-man, Neanderthal Man.

Homo neanderthalensis

Computer-assisted Paleoanthropology

The beginning of paleoanthropology as a scientific discipline began on an August day in 1856. On that day the specimen that was to become known as Neanderthal 1 was discovered in the Feldhofer grotto, in the Neander Valley, Germany.

Computers have brought new life to fossil studies. Instead of just examining bones, researchers now digitize them, then fill in missing pieces, add flesh, and simulate gait and other features. This tutorial describes work using computer-assisted paleoanthropology to study Neandertals. Fossils are put through a computed tomography scan, reconstructed in 3D, then compared with modern humans.

In 1856, three years prior to Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species, a skullcap and fossilized bones were found in a cave in Neander Valley near Dusseldorf, Germany.

Neandertal DNA Sequencing

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

These results do not rule out the possibility that Neanderthals contributed other genes to modern humans. However, the results support the hypothesis that modern humans arose in Africa before migrating to Europe and replacing the Neanderthal population with little or no interbreeding.

Neandertal Type Site Revisited

In Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 99 (20):13342-13347 (2002) : Interdisciplinary investigations of skeletal remains from the Neander Valley, Germany. At least three individuals are represented in the skeletal sample. Radiocarbon dates for Neandertal 1, from which a mtDNA sequence was determined in 1997, and a second individual indicate an age of 40,000 yr for both. mtDNA analysis on the same second individual yields a sequence that clusters with other Neandertal sequences.

Neanderthals: A Cyber Perspective

An extensive and deep presentation.

Two New Neanderthals Turn Up

Like H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis had a protruding jaw, receding forehead, and weak chin. The average Neanderthal brain was slightly larger than that of modern humans, but this is probably correlated with larger body size in general.

Palaeontologists strike gold in nineteenth-century rubbish. You wait the best part of a century for a lost Neanderthal skeleton to be rediscovered, and then two come along in a week.

Homo sapiens

This lengthy essay discusses the important theories behind the ancestry of our species, Homo sapiens.

Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution in China

Excerpts from the book by Ian Tattersall and Jeffrey Schwartz (see Books, below).

It includes a picture gallery of important fossil specimens, maps detailing the distribution of human fossils, and a time line.

We first appeared approximately 120,000 years ago. Our average cranial capacity is, on average, 1350 cc. at about 40,000 years ago, with Cro-Magnon culture first appearing, we use our first diversified tool kits.