Annie+Kellogg

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** ** Introduction  **  Have you ever thought about how humans got here  ?  It all started a long long time ago, about 45 million years ago! Scientists know this because of **evolution**. Evolution is the process in which human characteristics (eyes, hair, body shape) have been passed down from ancestors ahd over time they have changed over and over again, and then a new species devolpes.
 * Human Evolution

Scientists believe that humans are a common ancestor to apes and monkeys. Primates which is the group for apes, ,monkeys,and humans. They lived after the dinosaurs died.

Chimpanzees is the closest relative to humans. Chimpanzees are considered a type of ape. Chimpanzees and other ape type of primates started to evolve between 6 million and 30 million years ago.
 * Apes and Chimpanzees**

Different than apes and chimpanzees, hominids are only human and human like ancestors. The most important difference between hominids and all other primates is that hominids walk standing up on two feet. The scientific word for this is "Bipedalism". Scientists know this because they have studied many different primate skeletons. Scientists have studied many different fossils of hominids. Here is what they have learned: there are 18 different types of hominids. Hominids have different sizes in their skull, different shapes of skulls. Hominids had different ways of standing and walking.
 * Hominids**

**The Earliest Hominids** The oldest fossils of hominids were found in Africa. Scientists believe these fossils were between 6 and 7 million years old and that hominid evolution started in Africa. Some interesting facts include: these first hominids had larger brains then apes as well as flatter faces and small teeth. But they __all__ walked on two legs.

Fossils of some of the earliest hominids are called Australopithcines. These hominid types have larger brains than apes, they can use tools, they climbed trees and walked on two legs. Some of them had slim bodies, jaws and teeth like humans, but they had a smaller skull more like and apes. Some scientists believe that these hominids are ancestors of ours.
 * Australopithecines**

These early type of primates are different from Australopithcines. Scientists have found from fossils that they had enormous teeth and jaws, large bodies, and an unusual skull form, and tiny brains. These hominids may have eaten rough roots and lived in tropical woods.
 * Other Early Hominids**

Scientists believe that a new group of hominids called //Homo Habilis// lived 2.4 million years ago. This is an important group because they were human like. Here's what we know: they had large more complicated brains, flatter faces than earlier hominids, and rounder skulls. Like other hominids they walked on two legs but they made and used complicated tools. A newer human like hominid is //Homo Erectus//  About 30,000 years ago, two types of hominids lived in the same places at the same time. Both of the two types had large brains and could make tools, clothing, art.
 * Hominids Looked and Acted More Like Us**
 * Recent Hominids**

Neanderthals was one of the more recent hominid. They lived in Europe and Western Asia. They lived about 230,000 years ago. They also hunted large animals and made fires.
 * Neanderthals**

**Early and Modern Humans** Modern humans are known as //Homo Sapiens. Homo Sapiens// are a type of hominid that includes modern humans and thier closest ancestor. Homo Sapiens lived in Africa 100,000 ro 160,000 years ago. The group of Homo Sapiens left Africa. Homo Sapiens have a smaller and flatter face, and thier skull is more rounded. Early Homo Sapiens made large amounts of art. The things they made included: sculptures, carvings, paintings, and clothing.