Hominid evolution

The essentials

Hominins (often called hominids in older books) are humans and their extinct relatives after the split from the chimpanzee line. The key trend is bipedalism (walking upright on two legs), followed by increasing brain size, tool-making and culture. Africa is the cradle of early human evolution.

Key points

• Australopithecus (about 4 to 2 million years ago, Africa): bipedal but small-brained (about 400–500 cc, close to apes). Famous fossil "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) from Ethiopia; the Taung child (Australopithecus africanus) from South Africa, described by Raymond Dart.
• Homo habilis ("handy man", about 2.4–1.4 million years ago, East Africa): brain about 600–700 cc; associated with the earliest stone tools (Oldowan choppers). Discovered at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, by the Leakeys.
• Homo erectus ("upright man", about 1.9 million to under 0.2 million years ago): brain about 900–1100 cc; first hominin to spread out of Africa into Asia; Acheulian hand axes; evidence of fire use. Fossils include Java Man and Peking Man.
• Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis, about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, Europe and West Asia): large brain (about 1400–1500 cc, often bigger than ours), stocky cold-adapted body, Mousterian tools, burial of the dead.
• Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans): arose in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago; high rounded skull, chin, smaller brow ridges; spread across the world; Upper Palaeolithic art (e.g. Cro-Magnon in Europe).
• The Out of Africa model holds that modern humans evolved in Africa and spread outward; the multiregional model argued for parallel evolution in many regions.

Exam tips

• Learn the sequence and brain sizes; dates are approximate and vary between books.
• Pair each species with its tool tradition: habilis–Oldowan, erectus–Acheulian, Neanderthal–Mousterian.

Common mistakes

• Thinking brain growth came before bipedalism; bipedal Australopithecines still had small brains.
• Confusing Java Man and Peking Man (Homo erectus) with Neanderthals.