Hominids and human evolution

1. Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds
{ Social Studies for 10th E.G.B.
Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2.  Lucy is the common name of several hundred
pieces of bone representing about 40% of the
skeleton of an individual Australopithecus
afarensis. The specimen was discovered in 1974
at Hadar in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar
Depression. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2
million years ago.
“Lucy”

3.  The discovery of this hominin was significant
as the skeleton shows evidence of small skull
capacity akin to that of apes and of bipedal
upright walk akin to that of humans, providing
further evidence supporting the view that
bipedalism preceded increase in brain size in
human evolution, though other findings have
been interpreted as suggesting that
Australopithecus afarensis was not directly
ancestral to humans.
“Lucy”

4. “Lucy”

5. The fossil AL 288-1 was nicknamed Lucy,
after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds", which was being played
loudly and repeatedly on a tape recorder
in the camp of the expedition that
discovered it.
“Lucy”

6.  Background:
 Around 10 million years ago, the Earth's climate entered a
cooler and drier phase, which led eventually to the ice
ages beginning some 2.6 million years ago. One
consequence of this was that the north African tropical
forest began to retreat, being replaced first by open
grasslands and eventually by desert (the modern Sahara).
 This forced tree-dwelling animals to adapt to their new
environment or die out. As their environment changed
from continuous forest to patches of forest separated by
expanses of grassland, some primates adapted to a partly
or fully ground-dwelling life. Here they were exposed to
predators, such as the big cats, from whom they had
previously been safe.
Hominidae

7.  Bipedalism:
 Some Hominina (Australopithecines) adapted
to this challenge by adopting bipedalism:
walking on their hind legs. This gave their eyes
greater elevation, the ability to see approaching
danger further off, and a more efficient means of
locomotion (see main article for details). It also
freed the forelimbs (arms) from the task of
walking and made the hands available for tasks
such as gathering food.
Hominidae

8.  Developing new survival skills:
 At some point the bipedal primates developed
handedness, giving them the ability to pick up
sticks, bones and stones and use them as
weapons, or as tools for tasks such as killing
smaller animals, cracking nuts, or cutting up
carcasses.
 In other words, these primates developed the use
of primitive technology.
Hominidae

9.  In the Hominini tribe, several species and
subspecies of Homo evolved and are now
extinct, and only one species remains.
Examples include Homo erectus (which
inhabited Asia, Africa, and Europe) and
Neanderthals (either Homo neanderthalensis or
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) (which inhabited
Europe and Asia). Archaic Homo sapiens, the
forerunner of anatomically modern humans,
evolved between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago.
From Hominid to Homo

10. From Hominid to Homo

11. The “Homo” genus

12.  At some point the bipedal primates developed
handedness, giving them the ability to pick up
sticks, bones and stones and use them as
weapons, or as tools for tasks such as killing
smaller animals, cracking nuts, or cutting up
carcasses.
 In other words, these primates developed the
use of primitive technology.
The “Homo” genus

13.  The word homo, the name of the biological
genus to which humans belong, is Latin for
"human".
 It was chosen originally by Carolus Linnaeus in
his classification system.
The “Homo” genus

14.  Developing new survival skills:
 The use of tools conferred a crucial evolutionary
advantage, and required a larger and more
sophisticated brain to co-ordinate the fine hand
movements required for this task.
 In time, humans became even more dependent
on tool-making to compete with other animals
and other humans, and relied less on body size
and strength.
The “Homo” genus

15.  Around 200,000 years
ago, Homo sapiens first
appears in East Africa. It is
unclear to what extent these
early modern humans had
developed
language, music, religion, et
c. They spread throughout
Africa over the following
50,000 years or so.
Homo Sapiens

16.  Around 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens first
appears in East Africa. It is unclear to what
extent these early modern humans had
developed language, music, religion etc. They
spread throughout Africa over the following
50,000 years or so.
Homo Sapiens

17.  Given the following statements:
 Homo sapiens is the only extant species of its
genus, Homo. While some other, extinct Homo
species might have been ancestors of Homo
sapiens, many were likely our "cousins", having
“speciated” away from our ancestral line.
 There is not yet a consensus as to which of these
groups should count as separate species and
which as subspecies.
Questioning our origin

18.  Do you think this influenced the statements from the
previous page?
 Modern humans started burying their dead, using
animal hides to make clothing, hunting with more
sophisticated techniques (such as using trapping
pits or driving animals off cliffs), and engaging
in cave painting.
 As human culture advanced, different populations
of humans introduced novelty to existing
technologies: artifacts such as fish hooks, buttons
and bone needles show signs of variation among
different populations of humans, something that
had not been seen in human cultures prior to 50,000
BC.
Questioning our origin

19. Evolution Revolution

20.  Among concrete examples of Modern human
behavior, anthropologists include
specialization of tools, use of jewellery and
images (such as cave drawings), organization
of living space, rituals (for example, burials
with grave gifts), specialized hunting
techniques, exploration of less hospitable
geographical areas, and trade networks.
Evolution Revolution

21.  Sahelanthropus  Australopithecus  Kenyanthropus  Homo
 Sahelanthropus afarensis  Kenyanthropus heidelbergensis
tchadensis  Australopithecus platyops  Homo rhodesiensis
 Orrorin bahrelghazali  Homo
 Orrorin  Australopithecus neanderthalensis
tugenensis africanus  Homo sapiens
 Ardipithecus  Australopithecus  Homo idaltu
 Ardipithecus garhi  Homo
 Homo
kadabba  Australopithecus gautengensis sapiens (Cro-
 Ardipithecus sediba Magnon)
 Homo habilis
ramidus  Paranthropus  Homo sapiens
 Homo rudolfensis sapiens
 Paranthropus
aethiopicus  Homo ergaster  Homo floresiensis
 Paranthropus  Homo georgicus
boisei  Homo erectus
 Australopithecus  Homo cepranensis
 Paranthropus
 Australopithecus robustus  Homo antecessor
anamensis
One Happy Family