Phyisical Anthropology

¶ … evolution of man from the earliest australopithecine through to the three branches of the "family tree" to the dead end species of neanderthalensis and finally to modern homo sapiens:

The Ancestry of Man

Modern man has only been active within the archaeological time scale for a relative short time. Yet anatomically modern man did not just spring up from nowhere, he comes from a long line or hominids that extends back many millions of years. The species of Ardipithecus ramidus (sometimes known as Australopithecus ramidus) is the earliest known fossil of a hominid found, dating back to around 4.5 million years ago (mya) small hominid that stood upright, had teeth and skull closer and similar to that of apes, this gives them a closer lineage to those of chimpanzees than to humans. A.Ramidus only had a thin capping of enamel over his teeth, this is also a clear indication that his relation to the apes is closer that modern Homo Sapiens. Evidence shows that A. Ramidus lived in a wooded area this species is the first of the hominids to lie close to the divergence from African Apes (Fagan, 40)

This is followed by Australopithecus afarensis, this fossil hominid can be dated back from the Hadar region of Ethiopia and also the Laetoli region in Tanzania, the Hadar skeleton found by Taieb and Johnson, named Lucy at the time was only 3.5 -- 4.0 feet tall and reckoned to be around twenty years old, Lucy has been dated to around 3.18 millions years ago, however the skeletons and evidence found at Laetoli have been dated to 3.1 millions years ago, this illustrates that A. afrensis was in existence for a long period before its demise (Fagan, 40)

From Australopithecus afarensis we move to Australopithecus anmensis, dated to around 3.9 mya, traits include jaws with parallel sides similar to those of apes, ear holes are smaller and again ape like. This creature is a mixture of ape and hominid it seems the limbs are human like and the legs are strong enough to support walking on them (Fagan, 40)

Australopithecus africanus follows next dated to 3.3-3.5 mya, has a gracile character and build, small delicate skulls with prognathous faces, has a similarity to that of A. afarensis yet is located in the southern part of the continent.

It is at this point that the history of man's ancestors diverges into two for we see the emergence of the hominid species and the continuance of the Australopithecine genus, the Australopithecine branch continues with:

Australopithecus aethiopicus existed between 2.6 and 2.3 million years ago. Their brain size was very small some parts of the skull resemble the ones of Australopithecus afarensis (Anonymous, PG).

Followed by Australopithecus boisei (sometimes known as Zinjanthropus boisei) dated to around 1.75 mya, A. boisei was also a heavily built australopithecine, was in all likely hood a vegetarian, and possessed thick jaws with large black teeth, it seems that boisei and robustus were related to that of africanus as they are very much alike apart from africanus being more gracile (McKie, 46).

Looking at the second branch of the phylogeny there is Homo Habilis (Handy Man or Person) dated to around 2 mya features larger brains, was more gracile than the Australopithecines, faces were more delicate and less prognathous, smaller jaws with less specialized teeth (Fagan, 49)

These are followed by Homo erectus dated to around 1.9 mya to 40, 000 ya the brain size increased. H. erectus had a larger skeleton overall and was much like modern humans as compared to the Australopithecines. He was powerfully built had massive brow ridges and a large face which had a long skull.