HUMAN EVOLUTION: GENUS HOMO

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HUMAN EVOLUTION GENUS HOMO
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Time-Line of Hominid Evolution5 Adaptive
Radiations

• First Adaptive Radiation 6-7 mya in the late
  Miocene, potential last common ancestors
• Second Adaptive Radiation 4-5 mya in early
  Pliocene, first true hominids
• Third Adaptive Radiation 3-4 mya in middle
  Pliocene, more hominids
• Fourth Adaptive Radiation 2-3 mya in late
  Pliocene, more robust hominids
• Fifth Adaptive Radiation 2-1.8 mya in late
  Pliocene early ice age, genus Homo

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Rise of the genus Homo

• Earliest fossils from same African sites as
  Australopithecines
• Most date between 2.4 and 1.8 mya
• Homo habilis means handy man
• Growing consensus that there may have been 2 or
  more species of Homo living at the same time by
  about 2 mya

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6 SPECIES OF GENUS HOMO

1. Homo habilis
2. Homo ergaster
3. Homo erectus
4. Homo antecessor (archaic Homo sapiens)
5. Homo heidelbergensis (archaic Homo sapiens)
6. Homo neanderthalensis

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Cranial capacity for Genus Homo
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Homo habilis
http//www.archaeologyinfo.com/homohabilis.htm
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1. Homo habilis

• 2.3-1.5 mya
• East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia)
  southern Africa
• Increased brain size (680-800ml)
• Stone tools

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Homo habilis
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Homo habilis at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Skeletal remains discovered at Olduvai Gorge in
1986 by Don Johanson revealed limb sizes and
proportions nearly identical to australopithecines
Brain size face showed advances towards more
human-like form
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Homo ergaster
http//www.archaeologyinfo.com/homoergaster.htm
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2. Homo ergaster

• 1.8-1.6 mya
• Lake Turkana, Kenya
• Increased Brain Size (800-880 ml)
• Thinner Skull with smaller facial bones (than
  Homo erectus)

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Turkana Boy Skeleton

• 90 of skeleton of adolescent male found west of
  Lake Turkana in the mid 1980s
• 1.6 mya, very modern skeleton, similar to that of
  fully modern human

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Homo erectus
http//www.archaeologyinfo.com/homoerectus.htm
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3. Homo erectus

• 1.8 mya 33,000 ya
• First hominid to migrate out of Africa! Africa,
  then Russia, China, Java, Italy, etc. (p. 270-71)
• 50 increased brain size (900-1600 ml)
• Fire, clothing, shelters, cooking

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Homo erectus Facial Morphology
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EXAMPLE Peking Man Reconstruction
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Archaic Homo sapiens

• Hominids with larger brains more modern cranial
  features than classic H. erectus
• Recently divided into Homo antecessor
  heidelbergensis
• Taxonomy is problematic some fossils could be H.
  erectus, others could be direct ancestors of
  later Neanderthals or pre-modern forms of H.
  sapiens

AFRICAN ARCHAICS
Kabwe, Zambia
Bodo, Ethiopia
EUROPEAN ARCHAICS
Arago, France
Petroloma, Greece
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4. Homo antecessor

• 780,000 ya
• Gran Dolina, Spain (oldest fossil humans in EU!)
• Increased Brain Size (1000 ml)
• Direct ancestor of H. heidelbergensis H.
  neanderthalensis (?)

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Homo antecessor

• Mixture of "archaic" and "modern" traits, with
  especially modern-looking mid-face
• Other features are not unique could be
  considered a form of European H. erectus

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5. Homo heidelbergensis

• 130,000 ya 700,000 ya
• Germany, China, Ethiopia, Greece, Hungary,
  Zambia, etc. (p.289)
• Increased Brain Size (1000-1400 ml)
• Prepared Core tools, wooden spears, dealt with
  changing environments

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The Steinheim Cranium
The Steinheim specimen excavated in the 1930s
from Germany 1st archaic cranium discovered in
Europe
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Homo neanderthalensis
http//www.archaeologyinfo.com/homoneaderthalensis
.htm
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6. Homo neanderthalensis

• 28,000 ya 225,000 ya
• Belgium, Croatia, Germany, France, Iraq, Israel,
  Italy (p.297)
• Increased Brain Size (1200-1700 ml)
• Retouched flakes (tool use), big game hunters,
  buried dead, cave art, early language?, compassion

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Original Neanderthal Skullcap
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Neanderthal Features
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Neanderthal Adaptations
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Modern Human Regional Variation
African
European-SW Asian
East Asian
Australian
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Out of Africa (Single Region)

• About 130,000 years ago, the first anatomically
  modern Homo sapiens evolved in East Africa
  (probably from H. erectus)
• then migrated out of Africa to Europe, Asia, and
  the rest of the world.
• At this point, H. sapiens may have interbred with
  or out-competed other existing species, such as
  H. erectus and H. neanderthalensis.

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Multiregional Hypothesis

• 1.8 mya, Homo erectus evolved in East Africa and
  then began to migrate to Europe and Asia (due to
  lack of water and shelter)
• A very successful species, H. erectus survived
  until 33,000 years ago! Sothe Multiregional
  hypothesis argues that modern H. sapiens evolved
  from the different H. erectus stocks in different
  regions (continents) at the same time.
• After H. sapiens evolved in these different
  regions, may have been interbreeding, thus
  sharing of genes.

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Compromise (Mostly Out of Africa)

• About 130,000 years ago, the first anatomically
  modern Homo sapiens evolved in East Africa
  (probably from H. erectus) and then migrated out
  of Africa to Europe, Asia, rest of world.
• At this point, H. sapiens did interbreed with
  members of other species (H. erectus H.
  Neanderthalensis)

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Recent Research Mungo Man

• Part of mDNA extracted recently from bones of a
  60,000 year old modern Homo sapiens skeleton
  found in 1974 on the shores of Lake Mungo in
  Australia
• Oldest DNA extracted from a human so far!
• Comparison of this DNA with that of 9 other
  ancient Australian skeletons, 2 Neanderthals, and
  3,453 contemporary people from around the world
  indicates "Mungo Man" had a unique genetic
  marker
• Indicates that a now lost genetic line of modern
  Homo sapiens existed in Australia BEFORE arrival
  of later Australian Aborigines
• This evidence provides significant support for
  rejecting the "out of Africa" complete
  replacement model of modern Homo sapiens evolution

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