{"id":5190,"date":"2021-09-16T15:32:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T15:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/?p=5190"},"modified":"2023-03-10T13:48:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T13:48:15","slug":"how-did-humans-evolve-a-complete-guide-to-human-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/complete-guide-to-human-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Humans Evolve? A Complete Guide To Human Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"w-full border-b border-black\/10 dark:border-gray-900\/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]\">\n<div class=\"text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0\">\n<div class=\"relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"w-full border-b border-black\/10 dark:border-gray-900\/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]\">\n<div class=\"text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0\">\n<div class=\"relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light\">\n<table style=\"background-color: #ebebe6;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 460px;\">\n<h2 style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><strong><u>Table of Content<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"#1\"><strong>1. Introduction<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#2\"><strong>2. What were early humans like?<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nA. The emergence of Homo habilis<br \/>\nB. The lifestyle of Homo Habilis<br \/>\nC. The significance of Homo Habilis in Human evolution<br \/>\n<a href=\"#3\"><strong>3. How long have humans existed?<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nA. The emergence of Homo sapiens<br \/>\nB. Significance of Homo sapiens in the human evolution<br \/>\n<a href=\"#4\"><strong>4. The process of Evolution<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nA. Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution<br \/>\nB. The five steps of Natural Selection: VISTA<br \/>\n<a href=\"#5\"><strong>5. How did Humans evolve?<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nA. Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus<br \/>\nB. Homo Antecessor and Homo Heidelbergensis<br \/>\nC. Neanderthals and Denisovans<br \/>\nD. Homo Sapiens<br \/>\n<a href=\"#6\"><strong>6. Human Evolution Timeline<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#7\"><strong>7. Are humans still evolving today?<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#8\"><strong>8. Conclusion<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p id=\"1\">Introduction<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5193\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Introduction.jpg\" alt=\"A figure of a Charles Darwin theory from ape to human\" width=\"1000\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Introduction.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Introduction-980x392.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Introduction-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all know what evolution is and how it generally works, but how much do you know about how <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">we<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> evolved? The story of human evolution isn\u2019t one that\u2019s taught in much detail, yet it\u2019s one of the most important because it\u2019s our story. It also offers valuable insight into how our bodies and minds were formed, and how we changed to become the most intelligent and productive species on planet Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to learn more about how humans have evolved over millions of years, you\u2019ve come to the right place. As you can imagine, it\u2019s a big topic to cover, so we\u2019ve referenced other materials for those who want to dig deeper into the origin of humanity. We\u2019ve also split the guide into several easily digestible parts:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Were Early Humans Are?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Process Of Evolution<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Did Humans Evolve?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-f740d61c-40bf-4904-b6ab-39495fc8c84f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-creative-work\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/human-evolution\">Human Evolution<\/span> Timeline<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are Humans Still Evolving Today?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those five sections allow us to cover human evolution without getting lost in the minutiae or using terminology that\u2019s difficult to understand. You won\u2019t need a degree in <span id=\"urn:enhancement-84039101-1e36-4c38-8a39-1dc390a219e9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"http:\/\/dbpedia.org\/resource\/Paleoanthropology\">paleoanthropology<\/span> \u2013 the study of human evolution \u2013 to understand this guide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s get started at the beginning with early humans. What were they like?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"2\">What Were Early Humans Like?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5194\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/What-Were-Early-Humans-Like.jpg\" alt=\"What Were Early Humans Like\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/What-Were-Early-Humans-Like.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/What-Were-Early-Humans-Like-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/What-Were-Early-Humans-Like-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choosing a starting point to talk about human evolution is tricky. Do we start with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/13.7\/2018\/01\/31\/581874421\/be-humbled-our-oldest-ancestors-were-single-celled-organisms?t=1630862243955\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">single-celled organisms<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/science\/article\/121024-purgatorius-earliest-primate-evolution-science-squirrel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">earliest primates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? The unknown <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2019\/01\/19\/health\/australopithecus-sediba-human-history-scli-intl\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">missing link<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between monkey and mankind?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many steps in the evolutionary process we could choose to begin our journey. Single-celled organisms and <span id=\"urn:enhancement-d8045da7-07f1-4b03-9977-1686d320a10f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> aren\u2019t humans, so we\u2019re going to start with the first early humans \u2013 the first beings belonging to the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-092b1306-7883-4038-b561-981d6031dbae\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo <\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">genus<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-692c56db-f414-48ac-9353-c441672725d4\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> emerges from the <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-6a2f4d5d-8751-4836-b373-3c34d68bdb56\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">genus, which was largely based in eastern and southern Africa. The genus name references their distribution, being Greek for \u201csouthern ape.\u201d Apes aren\u2019t humans, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re starting with the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-9f914630-db33-4944-b796-e02207a5fc24\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> instead.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for the first species in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-43ca3e64-18b5-4d7d-8556-adf53542bd5d\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo genus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that would be the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-933bfa9c-dc55-4582-9e40-1c95f3118280\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or \u201chandy man\u201d in English. As is common with the process of scientific discovery, we don\u2019t know if they were definitely the first, they\u2019re just the earliest that we have found evidence of.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how did they live? The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-9dc9ee71-2050-44da-b924-f1a589a3781d\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lived in the Early Pleistocene, which was a period 2.3 to 1.65 million years ago. Their place in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-67fbebb3-92a5-41e5-bff8-351ff53fd299\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> has been debated since they share many similarities with an <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-be2f00aa-c5af-43a0-82de-2bc20e421407\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus species, specifically the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-4541ce86-1e65-4b0b-af36-ee86aa55f7f1\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span> africanus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-2daecd2c-c2b5-4288-be6d-6413b384b084\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">H. habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> differed from <span id=\"urn:enhancement-5eec2741-a9fe-4978-9cdc-6f518318a807\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">australopithecines<\/span> in that they created and used Oldowan tools, primarily for butchering meat. They ate more meat than <span id=\"urn:enhancement-dd6f4ecb-e0d9-4152-903c-eb1031d4baf9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">australopithecines<\/span>, which played <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/4252373\/meat-eating-veganism-evolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a vital role in human evolution<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Those tool-making and dietary differences solidified the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-c532e8d2-7797-4b55-a3a8-3f0b45c7fd1c\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">H. habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the first of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-79cf912a-8843-46fe-97e9-3443a179ddee\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> for much of the paleoanthropological community.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were thought to travel the African savanna in groups numbering between 65 to 85, ensuring they had enough manpower to fend off predators like crocs and big cats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"3\">How Long Have Humans Existed?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The evolutionary journey of humankind spans many millions of years, so once again we need to establish what we mean by humans. We have a timeline of the entire human evolutionary journey later on in this guide. From now on, any mention of members of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-7efb16fd-c597-4727-8aa7-52267c8412c1\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> will be referred to as early humans.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Homo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> translates to man and its genus members are often referred to as human, what we think of are specifically <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5949db2b-5c8a-4054-aa03-0ba25e4f2d19\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That\u2019s because we\u2019re the only extant species of the genus, the others are all extinct. You\u2019ve probably heard that name before because it\u2019s yours! It means \u201cwise man,\u201d as a clear reference to our status as the smartest of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-099fd3e9-55e6-4455-bd0c-98ba5304b450\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how long have <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-9e89cca1-5423-4804-8f0a-0df0efedbaa9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">H. sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> existed? By all accounts, we seem to have emerged from at least 200,000 years ago, though some other discoveries of tools could push that back to 300,000 years ago. When the journey to get here has spanned tens of millions of years and considering how much humanity has done in just the last 6,000 years, a few hundred thousand years isn\u2019t that long.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for the distribution of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-c8b3485d-ebbd-4695-b4f0-0c285a0f8b1c\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">H. sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across the world, we have estimated that the first humans settled Australia as little as 60,000 years ago while the Americas were settled later, predicted to be 13,000 years ago, by crossing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Bering Strait land bridge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"4\">The Process Of Evolution<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5195\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Process-of-Evolution.jpg\" alt=\"The Process of Evolution\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Process-of-Evolution.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Process-of-Evolution-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Process-of-Evolution-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we know about the first early humans (to the best of our abilities), we should take a break to tackle the process of evolution. Then we can apply those processes to human beings to explain how they evolved from the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-acb9e5d8-73e3-4a5d-9957-9ef331305af7\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to us, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-e9481b31-e391-4a9d-b642-61b689e20593\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explaining evolution in fine detail would be its own guide, if not several, but we can nail the fundamentals right here and explain them in a way that everybody understands.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a guide about evolution, it was only a matter of time until Charles Darwin showed up. While the general ideas surrounding the all-encompassing process of evolution showed up earlier, like in the writings of philosopher Herbert Spencer, the current theory was mainstreamed with Charles Darwin\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the Origin of Species<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 1859.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The publication outlined the process by which evolution pushes certain species forward while leaving others in the dust \u2013 natural selection. As the name suggests, this is where the environment and other circumstances pressure a species into making gradual changes over many, many years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process is often taught in five steps, called VISTA:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">V \u2013 Variance<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I \u2013 Inheritance<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S \u2013 Selection<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T \u2013 Time<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A \u2013 Adaptation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s explain what these mean since they\u2019re the secret to natural selection, and so the process that evolution uses to develop lifeforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, variance. These are the naturally occurring differences inherent to the species of our planet, even relatively similar ones, and on the genetic level, individual members of those species are different, too. The level of variance in nature is astounding and serves as the perfect hotbed for mutations in those beings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inheritance is where beings reproduce, producing genetic copies of themselves by typically mixing DNA, inheriting features from both parents. This is commonly observable through different traits, like height, eye color, and certain face shape features, like the nose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through this repeating process of DNA inheritance, selection takes place. This is where certain inheritors of certain DNA profiles are better equipped to survive. Resources are limited, after all, so the world is a competition between animals to survive and ensure they reproduce. The more successful a species is at finding food, mating, and fighting back against or avoiding predators, the better chances they have to survive. Seemingly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/examples.yourdictionary.com\/examples-of-natural-selection.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trivial details can change how a being interacts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with its environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This process of gradual mutation takes a lot of time as species reproduce. When subject to the same environmental pressures, the species will either compete and become dominant or die out from lack of survival, now that they\u2019re being outcompeted. This process takes hundreds of thousands of years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, adaptation is where the majority of a species has now transitioned into the newer form. Its genetic material has gradually altered with each generation and is now the predominant expression of that species on Earth. As we\u2019ll see with human evolution, it\u2019s then common for the old variants to die out and the new species to continue with success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"5\">How Did Humans Evolve?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5196\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/How-Did-Humans-Evolve.jpg\" alt=\"How Did Humans Evolve\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/How-Did-Humans-Evolve.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/How-Did-Humans-Evolve-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/How-Did-Humans-Evolve-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we know the evolutionary process and how it takes place, do we know how it happened with humans? As we\u2019ve already discussed, the making and use of rudimentary stone tools were instrumental to the continued evolution of man, as was the higher intake of proteins that came from eating more meat and eventually learning to cook it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><i>Homo Habilis<\/i><\/b><b> &amp; <\/b><b><i>Homo Erectus<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those were the main distinctions that differentiated the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5f4c7861-c535-4fd5-8bcd-8f34144c112f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo <\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">genus<\/span> from the <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-558fdb8c-8747-47d6-a1b6-e4b14c9c1c51\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, although we have since discovered evidence for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn26844-human-ancestors-got-a-grip-on-tools-3-million-years-ago\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using tools too<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Alongside the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-8cecb0c0-c5fe-41a8-afb8-c4d434efc984\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, there was also the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-27538759-cfe0-4acf-bbf5-1dff2cac861c\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-rudolfensis\">Homo rudolfensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that lived approximately 1.9 million years ago and the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5764b021-fab6-4169-9f7b-0392b9809973\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">erectus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which had a long span of life from 1.8 million years ago to as recent as 100,000 years ago, during which they ranged from Southern Africa to East Asia. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-972bed04-13e8-40b5-93a4-f8c69194efd7\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is commonly synonymized with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-c084376c-a44e-4d2b-a6e9-711e59cdb705\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-ergaster\">H. ergaster<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they\u2019re the same species. They\u2019re also the most successful of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-f1ca6b02-1f58-481a-bcce-04446aff148f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> to date since they lasted the longest, even longer than we <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-1b54874e-3a93-4edf-af51-98517a410967\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have existed right now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what were the meaningful differences between <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-4ea7e81e-3d64-4b0f-8ebf-7c0a6c693396\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">H. habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-a9eeffa6-94fa-44f0-b98a-dd0c44aa1cbf\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? They are thought to have lived beside one another and we are unsure if <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">erectus <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">evolved from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">habilis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or if they had a shared <span id=\"urn:enhancement-451f3c54-49dd-4cd7-86b5-3ba7a77c54e8\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">Australopithecine<\/span> ancestor. The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">erectus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were the first early humans to leave Africa and control fire. Controlling fire is very important, as you no doubt know, but <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/food-for-thought-was-cooking-a-pivotal-step-in-human-evolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the ability to cook may have made our brains larger<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, giving us those wrinkles that increase the surface area of our brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for why the environment seemed to select early humans that became smarter and more tactical over time, we can only guess. When these earliest of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-10b78898-7b68-4f9f-9425-a7b343505d3b\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> were forming, they were subdued to swinging climate circumstances that required adaptability and resourcefulness. The <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5678542d-0f4e-4836-9717-4b7ddc123f55\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">were relatively unchanged due to their control of fire, allowing them to brave colder climates, so they adapted behaviorally instead. Their brains were only 75% as large as ours and they looked virtually identical to us except for the head, which had a prominent brow ridge and a sloping forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><i>Homo Antecessor<\/i><\/b><b> &amp; <\/b><b><i>Homo Heidelbergensis<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting around 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago, we initially discovered them in Spain and had long theorized that they were the common ancestor of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-d38927d5-a127-47c8-99a3-687cf989e895\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <span id=\"urn:enhancement-1a26b501-0579-4bc2-9504-39eb86a48cbb\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span>, which we\u2019re getting to in just a moment. However, the same is also said of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-6adea0e1-62a1-4fb1-a5bd-16cb1c9758fa\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">Homo heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which started 800,000 years ago. Transitional <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Homo <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fossils after the 800,000-year mark are typically marked as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-6d4ffb7d-588f-40b3-b37e-e88fdfb070cd\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">H. heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-8a630661-c087-4eda-813f-fe89b0cf53e4\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">H. heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can generally be described as a mix of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-72f4faf4-4d64-48fa-9629-0d3e981ec5c7\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span> and <span id=\"urn:enhancement-edc5adc2-54f8-415f-bf95-2ab5cadaf817\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">H. sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in terms of their inherited traits. Their brain size was the closest to ours after the continued tool use and fire taming of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">erectus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and transitional species. It was the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">heidelbergensis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who are thought to have first propagated through Europe, too, and seemed to be capable of coordinating hunting strategies with manufactured spears and other sharp implements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their dietary requirements would have required a lot of carbohydrates, which Europe was great for in terms of edible plant matter, and they may have engaged in art through engraving although the symbolic nature of specimens is disputed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were also geographic offshoots and subspecies like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-d9dc652f-3fa7-4d1e-97eb-00d50e92592f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-rhodesiensis\">Homo rhodesiensis<\/span><\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-fe75dfed-cc86-4564-acbf-6a44db1c6c20\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_floresiensis\">Homo floresiensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that are thought to be tied to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-479b7c34-20df-4dcf-9fe4-f49732b5778e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_antecessor\">H. antecessor<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-e8e394f4-cd43-4e3d-b91a-facb15c0b39a\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">H. heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Neanderthals &amp; Denisovans<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-4dcbb8ee-5ad5-48e8-817a-ed9d6f617110\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">Homo heidelbergensis<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is thought to have evolved into European <span id=\"urn:enhancement-97b43dc9-c83e-487d-b7fe-2a490a8ac8a2\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> around 200,000 years ago. You\u2019ve probably heard of <span id=\"urn:enhancement-9656f45a-b51c-4cec-80f4-8ebc260c976a\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> before. They get a lot of media attention since they were the closest species to us, coexisting with early <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-e88986cc-8ca4-409e-ae53-bbc18f2f5c29\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They were around as recent as 35,000 years ago and are theorized to have been bred out of existence by us, the modern humans. Some <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/genetics\/understanding\/dtcgenetictesting\/neanderthaldna\/#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20Neanderthal%20DNA,of%20European%20or%20Asian%20background.&amp;text=As%20a%20result%2C%20many%20people,material%20from%20these%20distant%20ancestors.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">people even have Neanderthal DNA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in them!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As is to be expected, they engaged in a lot of the behaviors that contributed to our success as modern humans. They made adhesive from tree bark, built structures, made clothing, tried their hairy hands at seafaring, weaved baskets, used herbs, and discovered the joys of smoked food. They were likely the first of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-45988425-6c71-4de5-a22d-426c4861edb9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo <\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">genus<\/span> (classified as <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-fffe4b39-6dbd-4af3-9de7-ff439ac6465f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">H. neanderthalensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) that could be described as apex predators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of the same can be said for the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-19d17fbe-4225-494c-b53b-cb678e94da40\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> too, though they\u2019re more obscure with the laymen crowd. <span id=\"urn:enhancement-b6d5faf1-98ac-4cde-bffe-9acbc7866b76\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> interbred with the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-0805c44d-d798-442b-bead-9861ddfb2e1c\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span>, blurring the lines between them for our paleoanthropologists. The <span id=\"urn:enhancement-dcccccbd-325e-4080-bc0f-cc11dfe32e3f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> likely split from a common ancestor of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-ff3b0b21-9df3-42a5-a723-bef2e3d305ab\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> 400,000 years ago and evidence of them dried up 30,000 years ago. While <span id=\"urn:enhancement-5a792cca-93d7-4c1f-a7e0-39aa9f7c1dfb\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> thrived in central Europe, the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-b1cb6573-eed1-401f-8089-721b9e05a8b9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> migrated throughout Siberia and the rest of Asia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Europeans are more likely to have <span id=\"urn:enhancement-6de5e858-2ec4-4e80-9ef1-9281ee256a48\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthal<\/span> DNA while Denisovan DNA is present in Polynesians and the aboriginal peoples of other Pacific island nations. Through interbreeding with both, it is thought that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-97adf80f-b041-4822-bcd3-a3ad11d7e0b9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">H. sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> acquired the genes necessary to brave the hardy mountainous regions of Europe and the humid, tropical environments of southern and east Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><i>Homo Sapiens<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are also theorized to have come from the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">heidelbergensis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so we evolved alongside the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-9fc725d7-6d86-40b1-a28a-fdd5b3e7892b\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> and the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-1fc283e3-8a08-477a-826e-27b0cab98f71\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span>. Carrying many of the skills that <span id=\"urn:enhancement-99259a2c-acbc-46fc-8c2e-ad328a739b21\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> were also capable of, we migrated east and interbred with both of them. It\u2019s likely we also clashed and outcompeted them at hunting and battle in some instances, and diseases\/climate issues probably contributed to their decline while humanity weathered the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we mentioned already, we migrated across the Bering Strait land bridge. This makes us officially the first of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-1e84f15f-6e43-42b9-9e61-473f1f30e177\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> to cross from the Old World to the New World, settling most of the globe.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From there, societies developed relatively independently of one another, from the first kingdoms in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.khanacademy.org\/humanities\/ancient-art-civilizations\/ancient-near-east1\/the-ancient-near-east-an-introduction\/a\/the-cradle-of-civilization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mesopotamian Cradle of Civilization<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the early societies of modern-day China, Mexico, and Peru.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s where the human evolutionary journey seems to end, for now, as the subject matter moves from <span id=\"urn:enhancement-ad99d753-2aeb-4d3c-8b19-cf677136206f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"http:\/\/dbpedia.org\/resource\/Paleoanthropology\">paleoanthropology<\/span> to the study of ancient history instead. You know the story from there. Civilizations developed further and further until we have the interconnected, technologically advanced societies of today, and the ability to unearth our fascinating evolutionary story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To finish this section, here\u2019s a recap of the agreed-upon evolutionary path of mankind:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5f972caa-7660-45bf-99e2-27d31f33cd06\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 2.4 MYA to 1.6 MYA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-a5745f39-0cb0-4ad6-8a29-d60c055d22f2\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">Homo erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 1.8 MYA to 100,000 YA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-a6103c2f-4cbf-4fd1-bec1-3ce155cd7987\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">Homo heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 800,000 YA to 200,000 YA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-84e9282d-7780-4de1-a3f9-33ff4329cdba\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> \u2013 200,000 YA to 35,000 YA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-c863cd1e-ced9-4fd6-a335-35b0d8255888\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> \u2013 400,000 YA to 40,000 YA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-30f54a5d-728e-4d3b-b28c-b9397f956055\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 300,000 YA to present<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naturally, all figures are generalized and based on currently available fossils. There is a lot of room for error when trying to determine the origin and extinction dates of species.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"6\">Human Evolution Timeline<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5197\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Human-Evolution-Timeline.jpg\" alt=\"Human Evolution Timeline\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Human-Evolution-Timeline.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Human-Evolution-Timeline-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Human-Evolution-Timeline-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, we\u2019ve covered the end of the human evolutionary journey in the detail that it demands. That\u2019s right, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-46b405c9-853f-4212-a6e3-5657393e4a7e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span> and even the <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-3022339d-c734-447b-8203-404148483dee\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the complete evolutionary past of mankind, covering only 2 million years. If you\u2019re looking at the totality of human evolution, you can go beyond <span id=\"urn:enhancement-2c690694-6dd0-4dff-8fcd-328a6622d28e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> and explore 55 million years of progress to where we are today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s exactly what we\u2019ve done in the timeline below.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>55+ Million Years Ago<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the 55 million year mark, life had started as single-celled organisms 4.1 billion years ago, rudimentary animals developed 700 million years ago, vertebrates appeared 505 million years ago, tetrapods developed 390 million years ago and made the journey onto land. Then mammals formed 256 million years ago and split into <span id=\"urn:enhancement-b2847d64-66e0-4b68-96a3-15fb0816cd01\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> anywhere from 85 to 66 million years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of the early specimens were small, only went out at night, and ate insects. These were the Euarchonta, which then split into lemurs, tree shrews, and you guessed it, <span id=\"urn:enhancement-6f43f096-ab00-44fc-bfe4-6ac4cdd1e6d1\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> as we know them today. The early resemblances can be seen with Plesiadapiformes, believed to be the ancestor species of all <span id=\"urn:enhancement-e5e4fe66-661e-40db-8464-581d28b1b778\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> today, including us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For context, these beings appeared not long after the meteor. Yes, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that meteor<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, though it should be said that it was likely the Chicxulub impact along with other factors that killed off the dinosaurs. Fortunately, that was just before our ancestors appeared.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the stage set, we then see the order of <span id=\"urn:enhancement-981f8a07-6f7f-40fa-b720-65a218a3019e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> separate into several suborders. First, the distinction was drawn between dry and wet-nosed <span id=\"urn:enhancement-d4027783-a07a-4ea4-bf7c-115631dde542\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span> with the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-0ab00ecb-4ec8-487f-ae03-8a67d5e35a53\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/haplorhini\">Haplorhini<\/span> and Strepsirrhini. That second group later became modern lemurs and lorises while the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-8f89020a-ccc3-47a8-9f15-80eac1fba158\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/haplorhini\">Haplorhini<\/span> became simian monkeys, establishing the infraorder of <span id=\"urn:enhancement-1bb7efb3-3b51-479c-b3d4-5fc048f96f1c\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/simiiformes\">Simiiformes<\/span>. It was the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-f5f9711b-f05f-4d84-b3a9-3b0358dea90e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/haplorhini\">Haplorhini<\/span> where dependence on vitamin C was cultivated after the metabolism stopped producing it independently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-d6ccb7a8-b82c-4acd-b146-862231aab1f3\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/simiiformes\">Simiiformes<\/span> later split into the infraorders Platyrrhini and Catarrhini approximately 30 million years ago. By now it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re dealing with small monkeys with recognizably primate faces. Those Catarrhini then split into the Old World Monkeys and the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-070b5081-f56e-429f-84aa-fc5a8da3d944\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/apes\">apes<\/span>, otherwise known as the Hominoidea. It\u2019s here where trichromatic color develops in their eyesight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">25 million years ago, the<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> <span id=\"urn:enhancement-d58645ff-da6d-4da5-bf2f-cce9e5ee81ce\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/proconsul\">Proconsul<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> emerged as an early genus of these small <span id=\"urn:enhancement-1075e6fb-43b2-4a5f-b1f0-2fe5d63eef60\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/primates\">primates<\/span>. Their member species <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">P. africanus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may be an ancestor of all <span id=\"urn:enhancement-da68363b-24aa-4090-aec5-9c5d6b3523ab\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/apes\">apes<\/span>, including ourselves. As the millions of years roll on, we see the arrival of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-82b6702e-c536-4eb8-8925-eb7420dc461e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/great-ape\">Hominidae<\/span> speciate from the gibbon. This gives rise to the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-7eee33be-4647-4094-a12a-afc32b6f91ac\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homininae\">Homininae<\/span>, which speciated from the orangutan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12 million years ago, the first discovered early <span id=\"urn:enhancement-657b196d-b825-4955-8691-df664e0c78dd\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/great-ape\">great ape<\/span> <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Danuvius guggenmosi<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. From their skeletal structure, they could likely hang from trees and walk with two legs, an early example of bipedalism.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>8 \u2013 6 MYA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it took so long to develop small tree-dwelling monkeys and other related animals like lemurs and lorises, gorillas evolved 4 million years later, between 8 and 6 million years ago. Through the development of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-c474bad3-395d-4d39-b2d0-dc15a71ba580\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homininae\">Homininae<\/span> comes the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-b72a6828-00c0-4b51-af2d-8a63bd67687b\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/hominini\">Hominini<\/span>, whose member species both shared larynxes that repositioned over time. This led to a split between what we now know as early humans and chimpanzees. The first direct human ancestor that walked on two legs seems to be the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-b809533b-26ed-423a-80d7-d205b95b3b14\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/orrorin-tugenensis\">Orrorin tugenensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>5.5 \u2013 5.8 MYA\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the proto-humans develop, we see the emergence of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-5e26a534-3ad1-46cc-80e0-0cad8fa88b33\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/ardipithecus\">Ardipithecus<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 \u201cground ape\u201d \u2013 an early example of the early <span id=\"urn:enhancement-e3d9a986-bca6-4d40-b7e0-48eff4b8fc52\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/hominina\">Hominina<\/span> subtribe. If all these similar words are confusing \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/australian.museum\/learn\/science\/human-evolution\/hominid-and-hominin-whats-the-difference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hominidae, Homininae, Hominini, Hominina<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, etc., all you need to know is that the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-6010481f-a042-42f8-aedd-bd7d68593a11\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/hominina\">Hominina<\/span> subtribe is also called <span id=\"urn:enhancement-db0fedd5-9ab7-4cab-83c0-d9c3837b102b\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">Australopithecina<\/span>. That\u2019s similar to a term we\u2019ve used several times already to categorize the last <span id=\"urn:enhancement-3a71ee7a-2745-48d5-b1f2-39aae6dd580d\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/apes\">apes<\/span>, the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-51e09a21-719b-4b59-adbb-067c2cab2bce\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">Australopithecines<\/span>, that then gave rise to the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-39cee295-8542-40fb-b002-d1066dc982c9\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus\">Homo<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genus<\/span>. The <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-62894399-e40d-4c36-805e-5e91b4fa3665\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/ardipithecus\">Ardipithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as you\u2019ll see, evolved into the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-9e17139f-6ebc-4b99-b029-645881595e53\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, hence the similarity in their nomenclature.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>3.2 \u2013 4 MYA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It wasn\u2019t till about a million years later, approximately 4 million years ago, where our old friends the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-3a4addd1-062d-44cd-b860-1991e15af8e2\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> appear. We\u2019re getting into familiar territory now. These were our first human ancestors to dwell on the African savanna, where many of our later ancestors would develop before venturing across the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3.2 million years ago, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iho.asu.edu\/about\/lucys-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australopithecus afarensis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> we\u2019ve named Lucy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lived in what would become modern-day Ethiopia.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2.5 \u2013 2.7 MYA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another member of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-0b169dc2-8664-4dea-abc6-c4d8859a90eb\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecines\">Australopithecina<\/span> group, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-a8d939e6-7a90-436b-93b0-4a93c694475d\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/paranthropus\">Paranthropus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, developed in the woods and grasslands of Africa. They were too specialized as forest-dwelling herbivores, eventually dying out approximately 1.2 million years ago. They likely lived alongside <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-d83c49d6-1089-4889-9359-cfb81f03e646\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/australopithecus\">Australopithecus<\/span> africanus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-e77f3dbf-50ad-4e74-8097-384c7ed48876\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">Homo habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-bbf97b23-1e47-47a4-9f75-1fd654c618e4\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">Homo erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By now, our ancestor species running around have lost most of their body hair to support endurance running, which meant they needed to sweat to regulate body heat. This exposed their skin more to the sun, so their skin would have been darker to avoid burning. As we know, the first of these was the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-7a7392c1-f7d8-4722-8163-03d2bbc54d28\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_habilis\">H. habilis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The development of stone tools brings the end of the Pliocene Epoch, which covered the period from 5.3 million years ago to 2.5 million years ago. Now we enter the Lower Paleolithic, the earliest part of the Stone Age which coincided with <span id=\"urn:enhancement-77d4208d-c3a8-4dce-9922-869b147aa414\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/apes\">apes<\/span> becoming early humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2 \u2013 1.8 MYA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It wasn\u2019t until a few hundred thousand years later that evidence of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-ad8c4a60-8ea7-45d4-b077-d2859ea7bc14\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">Homo erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was found in Asia. These were the first hunter-gatherers, hence why they migrated far from Africa and in large numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>1.6 MYA \u2013 600,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The presence of discolored sediments and charred wood is found in Koobi Fora, Kenya, and pre-civilization Israel. These discoveries are what led to the theory that the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-83951556-27f8-4862-99c0-6db3bfea4a08\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">Homo erectus<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were the first fire-bearing human ancestors, which further allowed them to traverse the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Approximately 600,000 years ago, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-ee255eb2-6673-4aa8-922b-0341dfd4fe4f\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">Homo heidelbergensis<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lived in both Africa and Europe. Of all the ancestors, they had the most similar brain capacity to humans, suggesting natural selection towards intellect and that the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">heidelbergensis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a common ancestor of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-6762aaf1-f429-4c05-bffd-f195b81f6fec\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> and us, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-dd0b571a-0d61-48c7-991a-458d783c4dd7\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h3><b>500,000 \u2013 400,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wooden huts near modern-day Chichibu, Japan, were found and dated to 500,000 years ago. While there have been stone structures and cave dwellings previously, this is one of the earliest examples of purpose-built shelters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around 400,000 years ago is where early humans began to hunt with spears. The ever-ingenious <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-7ec3ce72-0c52-4700-a551-bd392c6a48f8\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">Homo heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> likely pioneered the weapon. This is when the common ancestor of the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-f17f366e-13e1-4b39-8322-cad1c051e5bd\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> and the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-cd2fba46-5f77-49e4-8ec7-bb39da9afde0\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> likely split off from one another.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>325,000 \u2013 280,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stoneworking becomes much more sophisticated now as we enter the Middle Paleolithic, with evidence of grinding stones and stone blades being found. We also have old footprints from early humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>230,000 \u2013 195,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-a43d50ef-4218-4ddd-b534-21359265a42e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> appear and dominate Europe, from modern-day Britain to the Middle East. Benefiting from the fitness and the smarts of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-bc16df07-3945-4842-8f97-cfb3f997d64e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-253976a8-5ffb-4510-a91c-17765f48c1b4\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-heidelbergensis\">H. heidelbergensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they were effective hunters and strategically co-operated with one another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">195,000 years ago, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-afcb6c2b-1888-41f0-b426-6afe00512103\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> arrived and migrated across Europe and Asia. They live, fight, and breed with the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-43dc9e36-07cd-4ff5-949e-19965174229b\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/h-neanderthalensis\">Neanderthals<\/span> and <span id=\"urn:enhancement-356d6fe3-00d8-4766-8694-3b09692a0094\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/denisovans\">Denisovans<\/span> present in both continents.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>170,000 \u2013 150,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was 170,000 years ago that the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/mitochondrial-eve-first-human-homeland.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mitochondrial Eve<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may have been living in Africa. She is the direct matrilineal ancestor to all people living today. Humans were possibly capable of speech at this point and old jewelry also contained signs that they understood and expressed symbolism.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>140,000 \u2013 110,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The social and economic development of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-c6599235-a10f-433b-af2a-99da4bce881e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> continues with the earliest evidence of long-distance trade and decorative beads made from ostrich eggshells.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>50,000 \u2013 18,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Middle Paleolithic comes to an end, bringing in the <span id=\"urn:enhancement-d5d08993-6f4c-4dff-91f9-c6cbd74738e5\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/upper-paleolithic\">Upper Paleolithic<\/span>. With this, human cultural development speeds up. Ritualistic burial begins and clothes become commonplace in society. Traps have been found, suggesting the ability to recognize movement patterns in animals and place traps to hunt instead of expending so much energy.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sapiens<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> finds their way to Australia. Elsewhere, cave art is found in France. In Asia, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-49abf0dc-c7a1-45c3-b3f0-e17df66ea212\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_erectus\">H. erectus<\/span> <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">finally dies out after the longest run out of all human ancestors. 18,000 years ago, the Indonesian offshoot <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span id=\"urn:enhancement-e2bd5276-008a-4048-ad80-0e7e91b88dfa\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-thing\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/homo-genus_floresiensis\">H. floresiensis<\/span><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lived. They are nicknamed Hobbits because they were barely a meter tall.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><b>12,000 \u2013 5,000 YA<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Americas are finally populated by modern humans. Domestication of dogs is predicted to have occurred around 10,000 years ago and agriculture spreads across human society, forming the first villages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where the Stone Age officially ends and the Bronze Age begins. Modern humans smelt simple metals like tin and copper, using them to replace the stone tools of our ancestors. The earliest known writing was also found 5,000 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>4,000 \u2013 3,500 BC<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the cradle of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians created the world\u2019s first civilization. Others would later follow in Asia and South America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"7\">Are Humans Still Evolving Today?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Are-Humans-Still-Evolving-Today.jpg\" alt=\"Are Humans Still Evolving Today\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Are-Humans-Still-Evolving-Today.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Are-Humans-Still-Evolving-Today-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Are-Humans-Still-Evolving-Today-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people learn about evolution, it\u2019s common to stop and think \u2013 are we still evolving today? It can be difficult to tell. Evolution, as Darwin originally laid it out, is supposed to be a very slow process of trial and error that takes many thousands of years before the slightest changes occur.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some paleontologists believe that human evolution has slowed down or even stopped, like Stephen J. Gould. He posited that evolution operates by punctuated equilibrium, which just means that the Darwinian evolutionary process happens in short bursts and then plateaus for a period of stability, where no noticeable changes occur. Like any scientific theory, we don\u2019t know for certain if that is the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If humans are still evolving, we live in a tiny, tiny moment in what is a long process, so we likely wouldn\u2019t be able to tell. The best we can do is look at the human remains from 50,000 years ago, which haven\u2019t changed and inspired Gould in 2000 to declare that humans have slowed or stopped biological changes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Famous broadcaster Sir David Attenborough agreed, positing that birth control curbed the natural selection process. This gives rise to artificial selection, where offspring are consciously chosen. We may even take the artificial selection process to its logical endpoint with so-called <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/adambarsouk\/2018\/12\/01\/genetically-selected-babies-are-already-readily-available\/?sh=1a02ea891241\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">designer babies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The offspring will instead mainly inherit cultural and technological traditions and habits from their parents. That\u2019s essentially the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Memetics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">theory of memetics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as we know it today, where Darwinian evolutionary theory is applied to cultural ideas instead of biological genes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, the claim that evolution has slowed or stopped has its challenges. American geneticist Alan R. Templeton argued against Attenborough\u2019s theory by asserting that our cultural and technological developments happen alongside and even inform our environment, so if anything, it\u2019d help natural selection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One example Templeton gives is that air travel has allowed the human <span id=\"urn:enhancement-699def97-c2a1-43ca-9d36-b2ae5611ea7e\" class=\"textannotation disambiguated wl-creative-work\" itemid=\"https:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl1503301\/entity\/gene\">gene<\/span> pool to mix globally, stabilizing many populations\u2019 health and creating fewer differences between us all. More traditionally, some are of the thought that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/science\/what-humans-may-look-future-webbed-toes-fewer-teeth-and-extra-eyelids-a6811526.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">webbed toes in humans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are an adaptation toward semi-aquatic life, possibly due to climate concerns driven by human civilizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Others, like anthropologists Henry Harpending and Gregory Cochran, have claimed that human evolution has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_10,000_Year_Explosion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sped up in the last 10,000 years<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They used data points involving lactose tolerance and cited one of the longest-running experiments in the world \u2013 the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/framinghamheartstudy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Framingham Heart Study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In case you couldn\u2019t tell yet, the answer is a big \u201cmaybe.\u201d As time marches on, there\u2019s no doubt that these competing theories will be proven right or wrong, or maybe replaced by new ones entirely, kind of like evolution itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"8\">Summary<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5198\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Summary.jpg\" alt=\"Human evolution but female version\" width=\"1000\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Summary.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Summary-980x393.jpg 980w, https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Summary-480x192.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1000px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With that, we come to the end of our guide on human evolution. We\u2019ve discussed how evolution takes place for everybody, how the earliest men lived, how they evolved to become the smart beings that we are today, and whether we are still evolving right now. Our timeline summarizing over 55 million years of evolution also helped to conceptualize the scale and intricacy of evolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you know how we evolved and the many debates that are still raging in the field of paleontology, you hopefully have a newfound appreciation for how complex nature can be. It took millions of years of trial and error to create us, so there\u2019s no telling where humanity will go in the next thousands of years.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Table of Content 1. Introduction 2. What were early humans like? A. The emergence of Homo habilis B. The lifestyle of Homo Habilis C. The significance of Homo Habilis in Human evolution 3. How long have humans existed? A. The emergence of Homo sapiens B. Significance of Homo sapiens in the human evolution 4. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mybiosource.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}