Matthew+Giordano

__ The Evolution of Man__

Humans. The word is known to all who have heard it. It is the word that describes our species. But, do you known what our real term is called? Our scientific name is called //Homo sapiens//. However, we were not always here. The theory that scientists have created is that humans, apes and monkeys share a common ancestor. This means that there was an animal that evolved into different species of creatures. These creatures were primates that closely related today's monkeys. There also is humans that were not like the humans we are. They looked very different. They looked similar to this picture. [|Chimpanzees and Apes] Most Scientists think that the chimpanzee, which is a monkey, is a relative to humans. This means that chimps and humans evolved from a common animal, not that humans evolved from chimps. Between six million years ago, and thirty million years ago these species split off and evolved on there own. This means that humans evolved into smarter humans, and chimps evolved into smarter chimps. The way that we evolved before meant that each of us were close to the same animal and we evolved together.

[|Early Hominids] When humans and chimps stopped evolving as together, we went our separate ways and became a new species. This species is called hominids, this is the earliest form of humans, which look like the picture above. These hominids had more modern-day human qualites than chimpanzee-like qualities. The traits that are human-like is called bipedalism. bipedalism means that they walk on two legs, instead of monkeys' all fours. They also have bigger brains, which eventually evolved into what we have now. Another trait we have is smaller teeth and mouths.

[|Australopithecines] Wow! This section has a really long title name. That big word means hominids, first humans, but they have evolved a little. These one of the first hominids that lived in what today is called Africa, but three million years ago. In Africa, they lived their peaceful life, hunting animals and living their lives. They never would have thought that they might one day leave Africa to explore the world. These hominds were different from the first ones. They had human-like mouths, but ape-like heads. Scientists think they had a vegetarian-like diet, and lived in the forest. Some early hominids had bigger bodies than originals, they had bigger bodies, and huge teeth and mouths. Scientists do not believe that these hominids were the ancestors of modern humans. They most likely died out.

Migration of Early Hominids Around two point four million years ago, a new species of hominids came into being. These hominids were closely related to australopithecines but were more like today's humans. These hominids had bigger brains for better thinking, and rounder heads, and a flatter face. These hominids showed tool-making abilities, and walked on two legs. These new hominids became part of a group of early humans called //Homo//. This group includes modern humans. Some of the hominids adapted to the climate changing process by moving around the earth. One of the first members of this wandering group was called //Homo habilis//, which lived around two point four million years ago. About, one point eight million years ago another group of hominids became into existence. This group was called //Homo erectus//.

Recent Hominids Recently around thirty thousand years ago, there were two different types of hominids that were living at the same time. Both were very sophisticated hominids for their time, and made well crafted tools, clothing, and art. Scientists believe that modern humans could have been descendants of one of these hominid groups from around this time. [|Neanderthals] There was one group of hominids that lived in Europe and western Asia around thirty thousand years ago. This group was the Neanderthal. More commonly known as the simple cave man. Most of you would have heard that humans descended from these cave men. This is not true in the slightest. Scientists do not know for how long Neanderthals have been living for, but we known it was a long time. They hunted big animals, and made fire for warmth, and made clothing. They also could have cared for their old and dying, because they gave them rituals when they pasted away. Neanderthals disappeared around thirty thousand years ago. No one knows what happened to them.

[|Early and Modern Humans] Modern humans are called //Homo sapiens//. The earliest //Homo sapien// lived in the plains of Africa from around one hundred thousand years ago to about one hundred sixty thousand years ago. This group migrated from Africa to places all over the world. The //Homo sapien// group is the last surviving member of the hominids.

There is a family of Paleoantologists, this means they study bones, called the Leakey family. They try to study the origin of humans. Here is a link to their page. http://www.leakey.com/

Images Reference: http://www.terrestrialextras.com/images/terrestria-extra-theory.gif http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/files/prevsite/hobbit%20head-lo.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Chimpanzee-Head.jpg http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/images/neanderthal.jpg