Human Evolution

[Tundra]

What's the name of the humanoid people that Humans evolved from? (not Neanderthal... they were a subspecies, or a seperate one, the scientists aren't sure, but we didn't evolve from them)

[vindemiatrix]

I think you mean Cro-Magnon men, or possibly homo erectus, but there were VERY many ancestors of man (homo habilis, a whole bunch of other homos, and the australopithecines, and the other one I forget) and people keep finding more. *grin*

EDIT: I had to look up the spelling of "australopithecine". *coughs* So much for trying to sound clever. *grin*

[Aimless]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Evolution#The_Homo_genus

:)

[Tundra]

I did look up wiki, but it confused me.

I mean the one they think we evolved from. Not our 'cousins' as it were.

[vampindelibleink]

I did look up wiki, but it confused me.
I think the whole area is confusing - they do keep changing their minds, so the information is also different depending on the date of the book. The article suggests it's Homo erectus.

As to controversies about taxonomy, Bill Bryson's A History of Nearly Everything has an entertaining chapter on the subject - worth reading, though not specifically on your question.

[Aimless]

If this is for your novel, make one up 8)

Call it Homo Hahaumissedus :o

[vindemiatrix]

I did look up wiki, but it confused me.

I mean the one they think we evolved from. Not our 'cousins' as it were.

There isn't one we evolved from. There's just a procession of humanoids right up to homo sapiens, all evolving into each other, and you could say we evolved from any one in that chain. Including monkeys. *rueful grin* I'm fairly sure you mean Cro-Magnon men (and women), who were around when the Neanderthals were around and eventually came to overwhelm them.

[Thren]

I did look up wiki, but it confused me.

I mean the one they think we evolved from. Not our 'cousins' as it were.

There isn't one we evolved from. There's just a procession of humanoids right up to homo sapiens, all evolving into each other, and you could say we evolved from any one in that chain. Including monkeys. *rueful grin* I'm fairly sure you mean Cro-Magnon men (and women), who were around when the Neanderthals were around and eventually came to overwhelm them.

I concur with Vindie *takes out pipe and starts smoking it whilst wearing her smoking jacket*

[Tundra]

I thought it was normal humans who were around at the same time as neanderthals. Because apparently LOTS of species of human were around at the same time, like those "hobbit" ones at the same time as normal humans as well. But they didn't think they could interbreed...

[sockpuppet]

Cro-Magnon are modern humans (anatomically) when they arrive paintings started showing up to.
Are they the ones you were after, or an older species?
My two cents.

[vindemiatrix]

Yeah, the Cro-Magnon were the earliest homo sapiens, but since Tundra mentioned the Neanderthal I thought she might want the dudes who were around at the same time.

Otherwise, Tundra, you're going to have to pick one from the list. I'd go with homo erectus personally, it's the one most people have heard of and they were I think the first to use really sophisticated tools... hold on, let me Wiki that. Yes, that's true, they were. They're the one most people think of as "the prehistoric ancestor of man", anyways. When the apes really got manlike, instead of just being lankier, cleverer monkeys. I think. I am NOT a prehistoric anthropologist. Is that even what they're called?

[sockpuppet]

You're right they were around at the same time and seem to be a close relative. Although they were absolutely huge and had a brain the size of a one year old, and ate mostly meat. It would be interesting how the three species got along, I don't think H. erectus was that often around the same places as the Neanderthals, but they would have definately meet up with sapiens. So friend or foe?
By the way H. rudolfensis is the first homo species and the first to make tools, they were around from 2.5 to 1.9 million years I wrote about them in an assingment ages ago (and remembered!)
I've always found H. erectus kinda creepy for all the reasons I mentioned above, like a homicidal, brutish baby! I wouldn't want to meet one late at night.

[underground_diva]

It is called the missing link because noone knows for sure, this link is missing.

Ie some of the ones mentioned are our ancestors aswell but there is a "time gap" where those ones don't fit and there isn't another "species" to fill it yet.

Some people use this to argue that this is where intelligent design comes in (whether god or aliens) and some people even think that we are the aliens. You decide....its a bit hairy!

[Jenevieve]

I'm in ancient history class at this very moment, and we just finished the unit on prehistory, including the evolution of humanity. One moment while I dig out the relevant notes...\

Here we go. Ramapithecus was the earliest hominid, but it was actually the ancestor of the orangutan, not us humans.

Next was Australopithecus, which came in many varieties, but two main strains: robust and gracile. They think the rosbust ones went extinct, and that the gracile ones were our ancestors. They didn't make any of their own tools, but used what they found, like a broken bone with a sharp point or a rock of a handy size. They were bipedal, but walked hunched over, and had a brain about a third the size of a modern human. These were between 1 and 4.1 mill. yrs ago.

Next comes Homo Habilis, "Handy Man", which were around 2-2.5 mill. yrs ago. They made stone tools, and had larger brains, teeth formations more similar to modern humans, and were 1.5 m or 5 ft tall.

Next is Homo Erectus "Upright Man" from 1 - 1.8 mill. yrs ago. They mades tone, bone and wood tools, made fire, hunted in groups with planning and coordination, and had the beginnings of a language. They were the first to walk fully upright, and had, again, a larger brain than the previous types.

Now we've got Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, from 30 000 - 450 000 years ago. They made flaked blades, had cave paintings, took care of the weak and injuried, and were hunter-gatherers.

Homo Sapiens Cro-Magnon was from 10 000 - 40 000 years ago, and had polychrome cave painings, domesticated animals, villages, pottery, religion, projectile poings, barbed weapons, and shell and ivory jewellery.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens are modern humans, from 10 000 years ago to now. We've got lighter skeletons, a larger prain, and a higher-vaulted cranium than any of the previous hominids, as well as a flat and near vertical forehead. Our jaws seem to be getting smaller and less powerful, presumably because of our softer diets.

Now, although all of these are hominids, there's no guarantee they are H. Sapiens Sapiens' ancestors, as there's not enough evidence to show linkage between the various types, though of course there are speculations and hypotheses. If you need any more info about a specific type, ask me, or google the names. There are actually some pretty good sites out there.

[AXJ]

Check out the big brains on Jenny! 8)

[Jenevieve]

Thanks for the compliment, but I have apparently not yet gotten across the point that I don't like being called Jenny..... Jen is okay, Jennifer is okay, Jenevieve is okay, Vivvy is okay, Viv is okay, McGee is okay, other things that people have yet to call me are also okay, but PLEASE don't call me Jenny.

[AXJ]

Thanks for the compliment, but I have apparently not yet gotten across the point that I don't like being called Jenny..... Jen is okay, Jennifer is okay, Jenevieve is okay, Vivvy is okay, Viv is okay, McGee is okay, other things that people have yet to call me are also okay, but PLEASE don't call me Jenny.

Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got,
I'm still, I'm still... Vivvy from the block


Mmmkay, that works. :D Sorry about the error!! :oops:

[Jenevieve]

Eh, it's okay. I guess I took that message out of my signature too soon.

By the way, where's "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got,
I'm still, I'm still... Vivvy from the block" from? Is it a quote or did you make it up?

[vindemiatrix]

^^ There is something so very touching about that. *grin* It's a doctored lyric from a Jennifer Lopez song. A particularly vacuous and self-absorbed one, too.

[AXJ]

Aye. :D I figured it'd earn me another whoopin'. Alas, you're lucky enough to have never heard it. Ro well! :P

[Jenevieve]

Well, I've never been very well connected to pop culture.... which I've always been rather glad of, even if it does make me miss references that people make!

[Tundra]

It is called the missing link because noone knows for sure, this link is missing.

Ie some of the ones mentioned are our ancestors aswell but there is a "time gap" where those ones don't fit and there isn't another "species" to fill it yet.

Some people use this to argue that this is where intelligent design comes in (whether god or aliens) and some people even think that we are the aliens. You decide....its a bit hairy!


um... wasn't the missing link the link between apes and early humanoids? Not the link between early humanoids and modern humans?


thanks for that information Jen! :D
I think i'll just take some early homo sapiens sapiens hehe... because obviously they developed culture and so forth... even appearance...

[underground_diva]

Don't be fooled by the band that I dropped
I'm still Axl Rose and a Nut......
They say I'm off my face on Tylenol
But I'm still able to Rock N Roll
Don't be fooled by the ECT that I got
I'm still Axl Rose and a Nut

----
Just thought I'd throw that in, you inspired me AXJ :D

[vindemiatrix]

Poor sad Axl.

[AXJ]

http://w0rdie.com/upload/files/2/Smileys/laugh.gif http://w0rdie.com/upload/files/2/Smileys/headbang.gif

[underground_diva]

What' the tag for that rockin' emoticon?

Me Like Me Zorg Want Big Red Thing Eat Hungry Fire Good. Mmph.

[Jenevieve]

thanks for that information Jen! :D
I think i'll just take some early homo sapiens sapiens hehe... because obviously they developed culture and so forth... even appearance...
No problem!

You could use Cro-Magnons, because by that point they were pretty similar in appearance to us H. Sapiens Sapiens, and they did have culture and so forth developed, just not any civilizations yet. (The first civilization was Sumer, by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in 3500 BC)

Here's some stuff about Cro-Magnons, from what appears to be a reputable source: http://www.bartleby.com/65/cr/CroMagno.html. Following the link at the end to stuff about human evolution also looks like it may be relevant.

[MichaelB]

without having seen the other osts, I can tell you that I have been told by several books on the subject that Ramepithecus are our earliest hominin ancestors.

[Emperor]

kenny ugg, smart. ohh ohh

me bvlub man with stick, hehe

homo emperor, lol

[underground_diva]

kenny ugg, smart. ohh ohh

me bvlub man with stick, hehe

homo emperor, lol


Homo Emperor me Greek Senator. Meet dinner Cassius Tastius. Borg. Stick hunt good meet reaper is me. Ha ha.

[AXJ]

kenny ugg, smart. ohh ohh

me bvlub man with stick, hehe

homo emperor, lol


Homo Emperor me Greek Senator. Meet dinner Cassius Tastius. Borg. Stick hunt good meet reaper is me. Ha ha.

http://w0rdie.com/upload/files/2/Smileys/rofl.gif http://w0rdie.com/upload/files/2/Smileys/rofl.gif