major source: American Museum of Natural History
Primates - Paleocene
Hominoids - Oligocene - Miocene
to Eurasia mid-Miocene
Hominids - Pliocene
Australopithecus ~4 m.y. -> 2.3 m.y.
(all in Africa, didn't make tools)
A. afarensis, A. africanus, A. robustus (Paranthropus robustus)
braincase ~ 450 cc
genus Homo
In general, in genus Homo, babies are born with large heads but
very immature. First year sees a major spurt in brain size. Brain
size is adaptation in genus Homo who were first hominids to live on
ground. Therefore the larger the babies' brain at birth (the larger
the pelvis) the greater the adult brain size. Australopithecines used
hands to climb trees, therefore infants had to be more mature at
birth.
early Homo (e.g., Homo habilis, "handy
man" made crude stone tools)
braincase ~ 750 - 800 cc
crude Oldowan stone tools
2.4 m.y. ->
Homo erectus 1.6 m.y. -> (300,000 yr
[?])
braincase ~ 1000 cc
to Eurasia (Peking Man, Java Man)
Acheulian stone tools
still with narrower pelvis than modern humans (babies heads not as
large)
Homo sapiens
modern humans and neanderthals diverged by 500,000 yrs ago
according to DNA evidence
DNA evidence also suggests that modern humans and Neanderthals were
separate species
Early modern humans (neanderthals ?)
evolved by ~500,000 yrs (?)
braincases slightly larger than modern humans, but a bit smaller in
relation to their mass
Mousterian stone tools, wood spears but still no stone spear
points
Neanderthals lived in Europe until 30,000 bp
Modern Humans ~150,000 yrs ago
125,000 bp in north Africa
100,000 - 90,000 bp in middle East
~ 33,000 - 40,000 bp in Europe coexisted w/Neanderthals - 30,000
~13,000 bp in North America