-is the study of the formation and the

development of the specific characteristics of

humans (Hominization) and the reconstruction of
evolutionary kinship lines in the family Hominidae,
by means of the study of fossils, such as petrified
skeletal remains, bone fragments, footprints and
associated evidence, stone tools, artifacts, and
settlement localities.
 Hominoids
- a primate superfamily, the hominid family is
currently considered to comprise both the great
ape lineages and human lineages within the
hominoid superfamily.
 "homininae" comprise both the human lineages
and the African ape lineages. The term "African
apes" refers only to chimpanzees and gorillas.[4]
The terminology of the immediate biological
family is currently in flux.
 "hominin" refers to any genus in the human tribe
(Hominini), of which Homo sapiens (modern man)
is the only living specimen.[5][6]
 Suborder
Hominoids

Family Hominids

Subfamily
Homininae

Tribe Hominini
Tribe Gorillini

Genus Genus Genus Genus Genus

Ardipithecus Australopithecus Paranthropus Kenyanthropus Homo
 18th Century
 In 1758 Carl Linnaeus introduced the name
Homo sapiens as a species name in the 10th
edition of his work Systema Naturae although
without a scientific description of the species-
specific characteristics.[7
 ] In the 19th century, it was speculated that the
closest living relatives to humans were
chimpanzees and gorillas, and based on the
natural range of these creatures, it was surmised
that humans shared a common ancestor with
African apes and that fossils of these ancestors
would ultimately be found in Africa.[7][8]
 The discovery of the Neanderthal in Germany
 Thomas Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place
in Nature, and
 Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man
 The modern field of paleoanthropology began
in the 19th century with the discovery of
"Neanderthal man" (the eponymous skeleton
was found in 1856, but there had been finds
elsewhere since 1830), and with evidence of
so-called cave men.
 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of
Species in 1859.
 Huxley convincingly illustrated many of the
similarities and differences between humans
and apes in his 1863 book Evidence as to
Man's Place in Nature
 Balked the idea that human beings could have
evolved their apparently boundless mental
capacities and moral sensibilities through
natural selection.
 In South Africa, a notable and rare find came to light in 1924. In
a limestone quarry at Taung, Professor Raymond Dart discovered
a remarkably well-preserved juvenile specimen (face and brain
endocast), which he named Australopithecus africanus
(Australopithecus meaning "Southern Ape"). Although the brain
was small (410 cm³), its shape was rounded, unlike that of
chimpanzees and gorillas, and more like a modern human brain.
In addition, the specimen exhibited short canine teeth, and the
foramen magnum was more anteriorly placed, suggesting a
bipedal mode of locomotion.
 The australopiths were originally grouped based on size as
either gracile or robust. The robust variety of
Australopithecus has since been renamed Paranthropus (P.
robustus from South Africa, and P. boisei and P.
aethiopicus from East Africa)
 In the 1930s, when the robust specimens were first
described by Robert Broom, the Paranthropus genus was
used.
 During the 1960s, the robust variety was moved into
Australopithecus. The recent consensus has been to return
to the original classification as a separate genus.
 The real hub of palaeoanthropological activity was in
eastern Africa at the famous Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The
Leakey family became a name associated with human
origins, particularly the search for the first human.
 In 1975, Colin Groves and Vratislav Mazák announced a
new species of human they called Homo ergaster.
 Ian Tattersall once noted that paleoanthropology is
distinguished as the "branch of science [that] keeps its
primary data secret."[14]
 Robert Ardrey (1908–1980)
 Lee Berger (1965 - )
 Davidson Black (1884–1934)
 Robert Broom (1866–1951)
 Michel Brunet (1940 - )
 J. Desmond Clark (1916–2002)
 Carleton S. Coon (1904–1981)
 Raymond Dart (1893–1988)
 Eugene Dubois (1858–1940)
 Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1803–1877)
 Aleš Hrdlička (1869-1943)
 Glynn Isaac (1937–1985)
 Donald C. Johanson (1943- )
 Kamoya Kimeu (1940- )
 Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (1902–1982)
 Jeffrey Laitman (1951- )
 Louis Leakey (1903–1972)
 Meave Leakey (1942- )
 Mary Leakey (1913–1996)
 Richard Leakey (1944- )
 André Leroi-Gourhan (1911–1986)
 Kenneth Oakley (1911–1981)
 David Pilbeam (1940-)
 John T. Robinson (1923–2001)
 Jeffrey H. Schwartz (1948-)