Split with chimps & bonobos (MRCA) about 7M years ago For most of human evolution, different species of hominid lived side by side Human evolution was not a straight line – there were many side branches and dead ends Our species is very young (about 150,000 yrs. old) Human evolution is a fact, not a theory Five Key Points

Appeared in Africa c. 4 million y.a. and lasted for over 2 million years! Bipedal (walked on two feet) Started losing body hair Brain no bigger than a chimp (about 1/3 size of our brain) Lucy – 3.5M years ago, 25 yr. old. Female, found in Ethiopia

Appeared in Africa c. 2.5 million y.a. and lasted until c. 1.5 million y.a. First tool maker (“handy man”) Overlapped with Australopithecus Larger brain, smaller face than Australopithecus Beginning of Paleolithic Age

Appeared in Africa c. 1.8 million y.a. and lasted until c. 100,000 yrs. ago Learned how to control fire and cook food Lived in hunter-gathering bands Spread around the world, including in Asia (Peking Man, Java Man)

Also called Neanderthal Man – bones first found in Neander Valley Lived in Europe from about 400,000 until only 30,000 years ago Brain size similar to ours but thicker body structure and big brows Buried their dead – and sometimes included grave goods Wiped out by modern human? Or out-competed? Or inter-bred?

Modern human – sapiens means “wise” Appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago – a young species! Found in Middle East and Asia by 60,000 years ago Found in Europe by 40,000 years ago (Cro-Magnons) Advanced tools – cave art

More specialized Homo hablis Homo erectus Cro-Magnon