Hominid Evolution:

Becoming Human

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/becoming-
human-part-1.html)
Questions to answer:
 What is a human?
 What is a hominid?
 What were early humans (hominids) like?
 How long have humans (hominids) been
around?
 Where - and when - did modern humans
(Homo sapiens) originate?
 How have we changed?
 How did we come to populate the entire
earth?
 Who are the closest living relatives of
humans? How do we know?

Bonobo Chimp Gorilla Orangutan

Where are they now?
Mitochondrial gene phylogeny
• Primates evolved from a small tree
dwelling mammal.
• Dental evidence from fossils suggests
that primates descended from
insectivores in the late Cretaceous (65
mya)
• Oldest known primate- Purgatorius unio
• Limber shoulder joints
• Dexterous hands
• Sensitive fingers
• Many cases, claws replaced by flat nails
• Binocular vision
• Hand-eye coordination
• Parental care
• Mostly single births
• Nurture offspring
Suborder Prosimii (prosimians)
• lemurs and tarsiers

Suborder Anthropoidea (anthropoids)

• new world monkeys
• old world monkeys
• hominoids
 Tree Shrew

Ancestor to primates

No binocular vision
 Two main groups of
primates:

1. Prosimians – lemurs, lorises,

pottos & tarsiers
2. Anthropoids – monkeys, apes and
man
 1. Prosimians

Lemurs
Tarsiers

Pottos Loris
 2. Anthropoids = monkeys + apes + man
a. Monkeys:
• Old world monkeys
• New world monkeys Old World
New World Monkey:
Monkey: Long snout
Flat face
Close nostrils
Wide nostrils
Non-prehensile
Prehensile tail tail
Arboreal Arboreal &
ground dwelling
S. America
Africa & Asia
 Apes
(Hominoids)
Dryopithecus (24 mya)
Dryopithecus

24-14 mya
 Proconsul

Possibly a subgroup of Dryopithecus

23-5 mya
 Proconsul
• ape-like fruit-eating animal
• quadrupedal arboreal with limited activity on
the ground
• diverse during the Miocene and Pliocene,
• very abundant particularly in Africa
 Human
Evolution
Upright posture permitted many
kinds of changes:

• Hands were freed- tools, weapons,

food gathering

• Walking/running on two legs- travel

great distances, follow game

• Visibility of surroundings was

greater
Upright posture permitted many
kinds of changes:

• Pelvis changed from long form

(ape) to short robust form (human)

• Curvature of spine developed

• Birth canal became more narrow

• wisdom teeth- jaws are small and too
many teeth
• childbirth- birth canal small, heads large
• back problems- curvature of back poses
strain, more vulnerable to injury
• hernias- upright posture puts more strain
• varicose veins- return of blood to heart
puts strain on veins
• hemorrhoids- veins more vulnerable to
congestion, impedes blood flow to lower
intestine and anal sphincter
• milk leg- pregnant woman have arteries to
legs pinched
• foot problems- too small to bear body wt.
• learning to walk- children learn to walk
gradually and changes in the body structure
must accompany the learning process
Indexes of dissimilarity between humans and
other species- homologous proteins
Humans with: I.D.
Humans 1.0
Chimp 1.12
Gorilla 1.12
Orangutan 1.15
Gibbon 1.29
Siamang 1.25
Macaque 2.05
Capuchin 6.3
Lemur 14.0
Cattle 23.0
Swine 29.0
 200,000 ybp Homo sapiens
Robust sapiens
Australopithecines 1.8-1.3 mybp
Homo erectus
2.4-1.4 mybp
Homo habilis

3.3-3.1 mybp
Australopithecus
africanus
Australopithecus Homo sapiens
afarensis neaderthalensis
3.9-3.5 mybp
500,000-30,000 ybp
5 mybp
Great Apes

Dryopithecus 24-14 mybp

Timeline
 Species Timing (mya) Size (cc)
Ancestral hominid 4 350
Australopithecus 3-4 450
Homo habilis 2-1.6 650-750
Homo erectus 1.5 850-1100
Homo neanderthalensis 0.2 1450
Homo sapiens 0.1 1400

Rapid evolution relative to other organisms.

Homo
sapiens

Homo
erectus

Homo habilis

Australopithecus
africanus

chimpanzee
Major African Fossil Sites
 Australopithecis afarensis

3.9-3.5 mya
 Australopithecus afarensis

Adaptations in
Lucy’s hip, leg
and foot allowed
a fully bipedal
means of
locomotion
 Human
Footprints
1978 Mary Leakey discovered
footprints in Laetoli from
A. aferensis (3.75 mya)
 The hominid impressions were left
in soft volcanic ash shortly after it
was deposited. A slight rain had
moistened the ash. After the
hominids walked across this
surface, the sun baked the ash dry.

Volcanic eruptions and other forces

continued covering the footprints
for over 3.75 million years.

Then, nearly four million years later,

erosion from wind and rain
uncovered them so that they could
be discovered by the Leakey team in
1978.
 Human Footprint
Strong evidenced for bipedalism

Toe is parallel (not in apes)

arch

heel
Australopithecus africanus

3.3-3.1 mya
Australopithecus africanus

3.3-3.1 mya
Australopithecus robustus

2.1-1.6 mya
Homo habilis
 Homo habilis

2.4-1.4 mya; Africa, Europe, India, China, Indonesia

Tool Making
Fire
Homo erectus
1.8-1.3 mya
Homo erectus
Homo erectus was the first hominid to:

• provide evidence the social and cultural

aspects of human evolution
• leave Africa (living in Africa, Europe, and
Asia)
• use fire
• have social structures for food gathering
• utilize permanent settlements
• provide a prolonged period of growth and
maturation after birth
Homo erectus sites
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

500,000-30,000 ybp
Neanderthal
 Neanderthal Burial

La Chapelle aux Saints, France; 30,000 ybp

Neanderthal Flute

55,000 ybp
Neanderthal Range
Neanderthal Modern Human
 Ozzy
Osbourne's Genome Reveals Some
Neanderthal Lineage
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ozzy-
osbourne-genome

 About 1-4% of DNA in Modern Europeans

and Asians was inherited from
Neanderthals
Homo sapiens sapiens

200,000 years old

 Homo Sapiens
100,000 yrs ago
Art: Cave Paintings, Venuses

Oldest paintings: Chauvet (32,000 yrs old)

Venus of Hohle Fels

35,000 ybp

Lascaux (17,000 yrs old)

Climate Change
African Origins Model
 Hunter Gatherer to Agriculture
~10,000 years ago

Sheep, Cattle Goats

Mesopotamia
You can get your autosomal,
Y-Chromosome or mtDNA
sequenced