Research Project: Human Evolution

Tracie Butler

GEL 103 J1 ML SU11

Australopithecus Homo erectus Homo sapien

Key understandings:• There is no clear consensus on the evolutionary history

of the hominidae family lineage.– Contributors: Incomplete fossil record of hominids, no new

discoveries and some species are known only from partial specimens or fragments of bone

• Due to lack of fossil records, there is disagreement on the actual total number of hominid species (currently, there are 18 species recognized as hominid)

• This presentation will begin with a brief history of the beginning of life during the tertiary and quaternary and then jump to the start of the era where hominids were first documented as a species. Again, there is much disagreement around the when, who and what, so many resources are used to recant the evolution to current day homo sapiens in this report.

Monroe, Wicander (2009, 2006)

What does it mean?• Hominid – the group consisting of all modern and extinct Great

Apes (that is, modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans plus all their immediate ancestors).

• Hominin – the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors (including members of the genera homo, Australopithecus,Paranthropus and Ardipithecus

‘Hominid’ and ‘hominin’ are derived from names used in the scientific classification of apes (including humans). By international convention, certain word endings are used for specific taxons or levels within this classification. For example, ‘family’ names always end in ‘-idae’ (Hominidae), ‘subfamily’ names end in ‘inae’ (Homininae) and ‘tribe’ (1) names end in ‘ini’ (Hominini). These formal names are then abbreviated to give the common names hominid, hominine and hominin respectively.

Dorey, Fran, and Beth Blaxland (2009)

When did the first hominids appear?Tertiary Period: 65 mya – 1.8 myaPaleocene Epoch: 65 -55.5 mya

Diversification of mammals

Eocene Epoch: 55.5 – 33.7 mya

First marine and large terrestrial animals, horses, monkeys, whales

Oligocene Epoch: 33.7 – 23.8 mya

First grasses, apes and anthropoids

Miocene Epoch: 23.8 – 5.3 myaFirst Hominids

Pliocene Epoch: 5.3 – 1.8 myaFirst Australopithecines

Early hominids, Australopithecus afarensis

Illustrator Unknown, Nova

Krock, L. (2002), PBS

When did the first modern humans appear -Quaternary Period: 1.8 mya – PresentPleistocene Epoch: 1.8 mya – 8,000 ya

First mammoths, mastrodons, Neanderthals

Holocene Epoch: 8,000 ya – Present

First modern human beingsThe Quaternary is often considered the "Age of Humans." Homo erectus appeared in Africa at the start of the period, and as time marched on the hominid line evolved bigger brains and higher intelligence. The first modern humans evolved in Africa about 190,000 years ago and dispersed to Europe and Asia and then on to Australia and the Americas.

Source: Taylor, J. E. Geological Stories (London: Gibbings & Company, Limited, 1904) 254

: Quaternary Period, National Geo Graphic

Did we evolve from monkeys?• It is commonly believed amongst many that humans did

not evolve from monkeys for various reasons. Some religious and some base their belief on scientific data. Scientific data shows that humans are more closely related to modern apes than to monkeys; however we didn't evolve from apes, either.

• Humans share a common ancestor with modern African apes, like gorillas and chimpanzees. Scientists believe this common ancestor existed 5 to 8 million years ago. At some point after, the species diverged into two separate lineages.

• One of these lineages ultimately evolved into gorillas and chimps, and the other evolved into early human ancestors called hominids, in the scientific classification family, hominidae. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Evolution. (2001), PBS

Primate Evolution Tree

Since the earliest hominid species diverged from the ancestor we share with modern African apes, there have been 18 identified different species of these humanlike creatures. Many of these hominid species are close relatives, but not human ancestors. Most went extinct without another species emerging. Some of the extinct hominids known today, they are almost certainly direct ancestors of Homo sapiens. While the total number of species that existed and the relationships among them is still unknown, the picture becomes clearer as new fossils are found.

Illustrator unknown

Frequently Asked Questions About Evolution. (2001), PBS

We’re all family – Hominidae

The Evolution of the Ape to Human - Peabody Museum, Yale University

The human species shares a common genetic code with all other life on our planet and many of our basic traits are a heritage from the long evolutionary history that took place before the human lineage branched off from the apes around 6 million years ago. Yet we also have our own set of uniquely human adaptations.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Family: Hominidae

Tribe: Hominini

Genus: Homo

Species: H. sapiens

Binomial name

Homo sapiensLinnaeus, 1758

Subspecies

†Homo sapiens idaltuHomo sapiens sapiens

Foley, J. (2011)

Skull and Brain Comparison

Reprinted by permission from Dr. Douglas Theobald. (Images copyright 2000 Smithsonian Institution.)

The skulls arranged from B to M by physical form: the skulls at the beginning of the list look more like chimpanzees, skull A, and the skulls at the end of the list look more human-like, skull N. There is a progression of appearance from B to M. Here are the skulls listed by species and date:(A) Pan troglodytes, chimpanzee, modern(B) Australopithecus africanus, STS 5, 2.6 My(C) Australopithecus africanus, STS 71, 2.5 My(D) Homo habilis, KNM-ER 1813, 1.9 My(E) Homo habilis, OH24, 1.8 My(F) Homo rudolfensis, KNM-ER 1470, 1.8 My(G) Homo erectus, Dmanisi cranium D2700, 1.75 My

(H) Homo ergaster (early H. erectus), KNM-ER 3733, 1.75 My(I) Homo heidelbergensis, "Rhodesia man," 300,000 - 125,000 y(J) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Ferrassie 1, 70,000 y(K) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Chappelle-aux-Saints, 60,000 y(L) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, Le Moustier, 45,000 y(M) Homo sapiens sapiens, Cro-Magnon I, 30,000 y(N) Homo sapiens sapiens, modern

In madnessinmysoul,(2011, May 8)www.topsecret.com/forum

Bone structure comparisons

Chimpanzee Australopithecus africanus Homo sapiens

Another evolutionary trend in humans is the hip bone. Chimpanzees have their hip bone elongated and directed forward, this is why they cannot walk like us, while our hip bone is directed upward. This is how scientists recognize if some homo fossil was bipedal or a quadruped. When we look at the hip bone for an older human, we can see also a transformation in this trend. The illustration in the middle is the same bone structure as “Lucy“. Lucy is an Australopithecus estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.(more info on Lucy slide 14).

Pelvis ComparisonCredit: Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

Three sets of pelvic bones (both a side view and top view) are shown, along with the approximate size of full-term fetus they could handle. On the left is the pelvis and baby of "Lucy“ (more info about

Lucy in slide 14). In the middle is the newly discovered pelvis of 1.2 million year old Homo erectus, and on the right is the pelvis and baby of a modern day female human being, or Homo sapiens.Homo erectus was previously thought to produce babies with relatively small brain capacity. However the discovery of the pictured pelvis has shown that they were actually capable of birthing babies with a cranial circumference very close to the lower end of the range of our own species. The Homo erectus shown could have produced a baby with a cranial circumference of 318 mm, while modern day babies vary from 320 to 370 mm.

Detsky, Z. (2011)

ComparisonsHomo Erectus

A. Afarensis

Homo Sapien

Australopithecus anamensis (aka ramidus)

During my research, I found that A. anamensis was also known as A. ramidus and were so close in design to A. afarensis, that it was hard to distinguish between them. However, it is believed that Ardi cannot be a common ancestor of Chimpanzees and humans.

Ardi (ARA-VP-6/500) is the designation of the fossilized skeletal remains of a female Ardipithecus ramidus, an early human-like species 4.4 million years old. It is the most complete early hominid specimen, with most of the skull, teeth, pelvis, hands and feet

The canine teeth of A. ramidus are smaller, and equal in size between males and females. This suggests reduced male-to-male conflict, pair-bonding, and increased parental investment.Researchers infer from the form of Ardi's pelvis and limbs and the presence of her opposable big toe that she was a facultative biped: bipedal when moving on the ground, but quadrupedal when moving about in tree branches. Ardi had a more primitive walking ability than later hominids, and could not walk or run for long distances. The teeth suggest she was an omnivore, and are more generalized than those of modern apes.

Ardi, Wiki

Australopithecus afarensis

Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid that lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. A. afarensis was slender in build, like the younger Australopithecus africanus. It is thought that A. afarensis was ancestral to both the genus Australopithecus and the genus Homo, which includes the modern human species, Homo sapiens. The most famous fossil is the partial skeleton named Lucy (3.2 million years old) found by Donald Johanson and colleagues, who, in celebration of their find, played the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds over and over.

AL 288-1 (Lucy)(Australopithecus)The first A. afarensis skeleton was discovered on November 24, 1974 near Hadar in Ethiopia by Tom Gray in the company of Donald Johanson, as part of a team involving Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.

Australopithecus afarensis,Wiki

Australopithecus AfracinusAustralopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 2–3 million years ago in the Pliocene. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus was slenderly built, or gracile, and was thought to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil remains indicate that A. africanus was significantly more like modern humans than A. afarensis, with a more human-like cranium permitting a larger brain and more humanoid facial features. A. africanus has been found at only four sites in southern Africa — Taung (1924), Sterkfontein (1935), Makapansgat (1948) and Gladysvale (1992).

Related to Genus: Homo

Homo rudolfensis

Homo habilis

Homo ergaster

Homo erectus

Illustrator unknown

Berger, L.R., and R.J. Clarke. (1995)

Homo habilis - 1.5 to 2 mya Homo erectus - 1.6 mya

Homo habilis, "handy man," is so called because of the wealth of tools that have been found with its fossils. The average H. habilis brain was considerably larger than the average Australopithecus brain. The brain shape is also more humanlike. The bulge of Broca's area, essential for speech, is visible in one H. habilis brain cast, indicating that the species may have been capable of rudimentary speech. The average H. habilis individual is thought to have been about five feet tall and 100 pounds, although females may have been smaller.

Homo Erectus

The evolution of an arch in the foot indicates a spring ligament in the foot, which increases the efficiency of walking by storing some of the energy from the falling weight of the walker in each step, and then returning it up the leg on the rebound. The big toe is also aligned with the other toes, something not found in earlier ancestors and other primates. Its large size is necessary to absorb the walker's weight as the foot rolls forward and then lifts off the ground before the next step.

Illustrator Unknown

Illustrator Unknown

Breuil, H., (1979)

Neanderthals35,000 to 100,000 ya

Cro-Magnon35,000 to 40,000 ya

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Bento

Neanderthal (left) and sapiens (right) skeletons

Homo Neanderthalis was the last surviving hominid besides modern humans, homo sapiens sapiens. Noting that Neanderthals’ brain cavities were larger than our own, many paleontologists and anthropologists argue their intelligence was comparable to our own. Given the overlap between both genetic compatibility and shared habitat, there has always been intense debate as to whether or not the two human subspecies ever mated; now, the evidence it tilting towards “yes.” Svante Pääbo, a palaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, heads a team which is sequencing the Neanderthal genome.

Being the oldest known modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe, the Cro-Magnon, meaning ‘Great Cave’, were from the outset linked to the well-known Lascaux cave paintings and the Aurignacian culture whose remains were well known from southern France and Germany. As additional remains of early modern humans were discovered in archaeological sites from Western Europe and elsewhere, and dating techniques improved in the early 20th century, new finds were added to the taxonomic classification. Loring (1996) Bento(2010)

Modern Homo sapien(fully modern fossils 100,000 ya)

Homo sapiens sapiens. In the artwork above of an early modern human Homo sapiens sapiens teaching his two sons how to make stone tools. In the background, at far left, men are using spears to catch fish. Homo sapiens sapiens first appeared around 90, 000 years ago towards the end of the Paleolithic era (750, 000-15, 000 years ago). Early Homo sapiens sapiens made many specialized tools, spears and needles. By about 10, 000 years ago agricultural villages started to develop. This marked the start of the Neolithic period or new stone age.

Women farm workers near Ghanzi, Botswana, still go into the bush to gossip and snack on wild plants. Gathering once provided 70 percent of the Bushman diet, but ancient scrubland has been converted to cattle ranches. Now government relief provides the bulk of the people's food.

2011 Science Photo Library Ltd. 327-329

Photograph by Chris Johns

 National Geographic magazine, (2001)

References• Human Skull Evolution

lhttp://www.terradaily.com/reports/Humans_Are_Still_Evolving.html

Source: United Press International• PBS Evolution Info

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/unit5.html• Transitional Humanoids

http://darwiniana.org/hominid.htm• Kids version

http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0001-prehistoric-humans.php

earlyhumans.mrdonn.org/evolution.html

Precambrian – Early Life Pic

http://wiki.faithlutheranlv.org/groups/mckaybiology/revisions/2c8a1/10/

Geologic Timescale Spiral Pic bul/1327/sec10.htm Last Updated: 28-Dec-2006

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/geology/publications/bul/1327/sec10.htm

Slide 1: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/brief-history-life.html• By Lexi Krock, Posted 02.01.02, NOVA

Slide 2: Bullet 1 & 2

Slide 3: Dorey, Fran, and Beth Blaxland. Hominid and hominin – what’s the difference?. Australian Museum, 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 17 July 2011.

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Hominid-and-hominin-whats-the-difference

Slide 4: Krock, L. (2002, February 1). In A Brief History of Life. Retrieved July 17, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/brief-history-life.html

Tertiary Period – Pic: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link/hist_11.html

Monroe, Wicander (2009, 2006)

ReferencesSlide 5:Quaternary Period. (n.d.). In National Geographic Home, Science, Quaternary Period. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from:

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary.html

Krock, L. (2002, February 1). In A Brief History of Life. Retrieved July 17, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/brief-history-life.html

Slide 6: Library: Frequently Asked Questions About Evolution. (2001). In Evolution, a journey into where we're from and where we're going. Retrieved July 19, 2011, from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html

Evolution Home; 2nd paragraph: How did humans evolve

Slide 7: Library: Frequently Asked Questions About Evolution. (2001). In Evolution, a journey into where we're from and where we're going. Retrieved July 19, 2011, from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html

Slide 8: Scientific Classification chart:

Wiki, found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

Groves, C. (2005). Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M, eds. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. OCLC 62265494

Monroe, J., & Wicander, R. (2009). The Changing Earth, Exploring Geology (5thth ed., pp. 664-665). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Foley, J. (2011, May 31). The Evidence for Human Evolution. In Fossil Hominids. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/

Pic: http://mrogers.wikispaces.com/Acanthostega

Slide 9: Where do you draw the line between human and ape?. (2011, May 8). In madnessinmysoul; a member of AboveTopSecret.com. Retrieved July 19, 2011, from: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread700916/pg1#pid11292063.

Pic Transitional Humanoids

http://darwiniana.org/hominid.htm

Slide 11: Detsky, Z. (2011, April 15). Discovery Questions Intelligence of Human Ancestor. In National Science Foundation, Where Discoveries Begin. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_images.jsp?cntn_id=112620&org=NSF

Slide 12:Douglas Theobald, 2002. 29 Evidences for Macroevolution, Part 1: The Unique Universal Phylogenetic Tree. At http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/hominids.html, retrieved July 4, 2011.]

http://www.theistic-evolution.com/transitional.html info and pic

Slide 13:

Picture reference in the material:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_evolution_fossils

Pic: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link/hist_11.html (credit: Image Credit)

Pic: Source: Taylor, J. E. Geological Stories (London: Gibbings & Company, Limited, 1904) 254

Slide 13: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardi

This page was last modified on 22 July 2011 at 01:29.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Wikipedia®

Slide 14: Afarensis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus_afarensis• This page was last modified on 1 July 2011 at 22:46.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization

• Pic: http://apunteseusebio.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Slide 15: Berger, L.R., and R.J. Clarke. 1995. “Eagle involvement of the Taung child fauna.” In Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 29, pp. 275–299.

Slide 16: Halibis: Library: Frequently Asked Questions About Evolution. (2001). In Evolution, a journey into where we're from and where we're going. Origins of Humankids, Homo Halibis Retrieved July 19, 2011, from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html

Erectus: Breuil, H., 1979: Beyond the Bounds of History, Scenes from the Old Stone Age, Gawthorn, 1979, reprinted from the edition of 1949, London.

Photo: Giovanni Caselli in the excellent book "The Evolution of Early Man", 1976. Text by Bernard Wood, Illustrations by Giovanni Caselli

Slide 17: Cro-Magnum - Brace, C. Loring (1996). Haeussler, Alice M.; Bailey, Shara E.. eds. "Cro-Magnon and Qafzeh — vive la Difference" (PDF). Dental anthropology newsletter: a publication of the Dental Anthropology Association (Tempe, AZ: Laboratory of Dental Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State UniversityBento, . (2010, May 18). Genome sequencing suggests Neanderthal-Sapiens interbreeding. In The Word Warrior. Retrieved July 20, 2011, from http://thewordwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/german-genome-sequence-findings-suggest-neanderthal-sapiens-interbreeding-2/

Slide 18: 2011 Science Photo Library Ltd. 327-329 Harrow Road, London, UK, W9 3RBRegistered in England and Wales no.1550520. VAT no. GB 340 7410 88

First photo & info: http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/171144/enlargeBushman: —From "Bushmen: Last Stand for Southern Africa’s First People," February 2001, National Geographic magazine

From "Bushmen: Last Stand for Southern Africa’s First People," February 2001, National Geographic magazine