Apr 9, 2025 · human evolution, the process by which human beings developed on Earth from now-extinct primates. Viewed zoologically, we humans are Homo sapiens, a culture-bearing upright-walking species that lives on the ground and very likely first evolved in Africa about 315,000 years ago.

Ardipithecus is the earliest known genus of the human lineage and the likely ancestor of Australopithecus, a group closely related to and often considered ancestral to modern human beings. Ardipithecus lived between 5.8 million and 4.4 million years ago.

Apr 9, 2025 · Regrettably, development of foot structure in early Homo—i.e., between A. afarensis and Neanderthals—is virtually undocumented by skeletal evidence. The oldest footprints indicative of contemporary foot function, however, have been found in Ileret, Kenya .

Early forms of humans first existed more than 2 million years ago. All species of humans belong to a scientific group within the hominin tribe called Homo. The scientific names of all human species begin with the word Homo , which means “man.”

Homo habilis - Early Human, Tool Use, Bipedalism: The general interpretation of the fossil evidence is that H. habilis is not only substantially different from Australopithecus but that it represents the beginning of the trends characterizing human evolutionary history, particularly expansion of the brain.

Mar 27, 2025 · Three other new genera of early hominins (Ardipithecus, Orrorin, and Kenyanthropus) dating from 6 to 3 mya have been recovered from Kenya and Ethiopia. Furthermore, during the latter half of the 20th century, new species were added to the long-established genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, both known from South and East …

Apr 9, 2025 · Because of its early date and geographic location, A. anamensis may be the common ancestor of A. afarensis, A. garhi, K. platyops, and perhaps the Laetoli Pliocene hominins of eastern Africa, A. bahrelghazali of central Africa, and A. africanus of southern Africa.

Australopithecus - Human Ancestor, Evolution, Fossils: The first species to be identified as Australopithecus received that name in 1925, and, after nearly a century of discoveries, paleoanthropologists are able draw upon a fairly rich storehouse of …

Apr 9, 2025 · Genetic data based on molecular clock estimates support a Late Miocene ancestry. Various Eurasian and African Miocene primates have been advocated as possible ancestors to the early hominins, which came on the scene during the Pliocene Epoch (5.3–2.6 mya).

Mar 19, 2025 · Homo erectus - Fossils, Asia, Africa: The first fossils attributed to Homo erectus were discovered by a Dutch army surgeon, Eugène Dubois, who began his search for ancient human bones on the island of Java (now part of Indonesia) in 1890.