Evolution Contents Human Evolution Lucy Discovery of a Lifetime Outdoors Type Tough to Chew Out of Africa Neanderthal Man Mini Test Human Evolution Ardipithecus ramidus The most primitive 4.4 million years ago first fossils found 1992 Australopithecus anamensis Exhibiting some chimp-like characteristics 4.2 - 3.9 million years ago first fossil found 1965 Australopithecus afarensis This species includes "Lucy," the 3.2 million year old fossil 3.5 - 2.9 million years ago first fossils found 1973 Australopithecus africanus 3.0 - 2.4 million years ago first fossils found 1924 Australopithecus robustus 2.1 - 1.6 million years ago first fossil found 1938 Australopithecus boisei 2.3 - 1.1 million years ago first fossil found 1959 Homo habilis 2.4 - 1.5 million years ago first fossil found 1960 Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago 300,000 years ago first fossil found in 1893 Homo sapiens (archaic) 500,000 - 200,000 years ago first fossil found in 1921 Homo sapiens neanderthalensis 230,000 - 30,000 years ago first fossil found in 1856 Homo sapiens (modern) 120,000 years ago - present first "Cro-Magnon" specimens found in 1868 Lucy • One fossil discovery above all has transformed views of how we became human But who was Lucy, and why is she so important to human evolution? • Lucy was discovered in 1974 by anthropologist Professor Donald Johanson and his student Tom Gray in a maze of ravines at Hadar in northern Ethiopia • Johanson and Gray were out searching the scorched terrain for animal bones in the sand, ash and silt when they spotted a tiny fragment of arm bone • Johanson and Gray named their fossil skeleton Lucy, after the Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' Lucy may have looked something like this Discovery of a lifetime Lucy • An upright chimp • Admired from Afar • Standing tall • Forest origin • Chimp cousins Outdoors Type Homo erectus travelled long distances on foot, as it worked hard to scavenge enough meat to feed its growing body and brain Tough to Chew • Homo habilis had small teeth and ate anything it could lay its hands on, especially meat But habilis was no hunter • In East Africa, a hominid called Paranthropus boisei became specialised so that it could eat tough-to-chew but more abunda nt plant foods such as nuts, roots and tubers (largely undergrou nd vegetables, the potato being a modern example) Out of Africa Shortly after Homo erectus appeared 1.8 million years ago, humans began to leave Africa for the first time and migrate to other continents Early humans reached Dmanisi in ex-Soviet Georgia around 1.8 million years ago "They may have used bamboo to make spears for hunting and poles to knock animals down from the tall trees" Neanderthal Man • Neanderthal man, or Homo neanderthalensis, had a jutting nose set in a large face with massive brow ridges and no chin From around 190,000 years ago, they lived across Europe and the southwest of Asia ...Contents Human Evolution Lucy Discovery of a Lifetime Outdoors Type Tough to Chew Out of Africa Neanderthal Man Mini Test Human Evolution Ardipithecus ramidus The most... fossil discovery above all has transformed views of how we became human But who was Lucy, and why is she so important to human evolution? • Lucy was discovered in 1974 by anthropologist Professor... Shortly after Homo erectus appeared 1.8 million years ago, humans began to leave Africa for the first time and migrate to other continents Early humans reached Dmanisi in ex-Soviet Georgia around 1.8