University of Yangon

Department of Archaeology

"Study of the prehistoric of Asia and Africa starting from early

Hominids to Homo Sapiens"
(Assignment)

Ma Moh Moh Zaw Win

1-MA-Arch-3
 "Study of the prehistoric of Africa and Asia starting from Early
Hominids to Homo Sapiens"

People were originated from ape like ancestors. Scientific evidences show that the
physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and
evolved over a period of approximately six million years. One of the earliest defining human
traits, bipedalism- the ability to walk on two legs evolved over 4 million years ago.

All people today are classified as Homo Sapiens. Nowadays , scholar suggest that
modern humans evolved from archaic humans primarily in East Africa. The first specimens
of Australopithecus were discovered in South Africa in 1924. Compared to modern humans ,
the forearms were long and the fingers and toes were long and somewhat curved. Brain size
in Australopithecus ranged between 390 and 515 cc similar to chimpanzees and gorillas.

The second stage is Homo erectus and they lived in Northern, Eastern and Southern
Africa, Western Asia and East Asia. They possessed modern human like body proportions
with relatively elongated legs and shorter arms. Early fossil discoveries from Java (beginning
in the 1890s) and China (Peking Man, beginning in the 1920s) considered to have been the
first species to have expanded beyond Africa. The Nariokotome specimen was over five feet
tall, discovered on the western side of Lake Turkana Kenya in 1980. Homo erectus represents
a significant transformation.

Homo erectus is an extinct species of early human that lived throughout the
Pleistocene from about 1.9 million years to most recently, 143000 years ago. The study of
fossil discovered by scientists proved that Homo erectus originated in Africa and spread
through India , China, Georgia and Java. The first Erectus fossil was discovered in Java,
Dutch East Indies( present Indonesia) in the early 1890's by Euge`ne Dubois, Homo Erectus
was generally in the range of 4ft 9 inches to 6ft 1 inch with a weight around 88 to 150lbs.The
fossils from Africa had a larger body size than those of Indonesia, China and Georgia. Their
elongated legs and short arms helped them climb trees easily and to run faster than present
human beings.

Neanderthal is an extinct species of human with the closest similarity to modern

humans. Their DNA is just 0.12 % different than modern humans. They were believed to
have existed from about 600,000 to 30,000 years ago. Neandarthal lived throughout Europe
and Southwest to Central Asia. They were stronger than modern humans with a huge body
size, male (164-168 cm) and female(156-158cm).

Homo Sapiens began migrating into the lower latitudes of East Asia by at least
70,000 years ago. Homo sapiens lived together hunted food and evolved to such an extent
,that they could cope with the climatic changes that occurred. The scientist has found various
fossils, that support strong evidence that homo sapiens existed. The oldest known fossils were
discovered in Herto, Ethiopia.
 The hominid study is very important for human beings to know about our missing
ancestors. The human to ape came after the Publication of Charles Dar win's "On the origin
of Species" in 1859. However, there are many theories and assuming facts to study hominid
traces in the past and the archaeologist have to find the best solutions for the missing links.