EARLY HOMININS

WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

In your opinion, what

characteristics distinctly
define us a human species?
 WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

 Hominin is used to designate the

human line after its split from
ancestral chimps
 Hominid refers to the taxonomic
family that includes humans and the
African apes and their immediate
ancestors
 We use hominid when there is doubt
about the hominin status of the fossil
 BIPEDALISM

 Fossilized hominin remains indicates a

capacity for upright bipedal motion
 Reliance on bipedalism, upright, two-
legged locomotion, is the key feature
differentiating early hominins from
the apes.
 Bipedalism traditionally has been
viewed as an evolutionary adaptation
to open grassland or savanna country
 BRAINS AND CHILDHOOD DEPENDENCY
 Brain size has increased during hominin
evolution, with earliest hominin’s having a
brain size about 10% larger than Chimps
 Large brain’s/skulls require a large birth
canal, which isn’t supported by bipedalism
 Therefore children are born with a smaller
skull/brain that is allowed to develop over
time, which requires the child to be
dependent on the parents until maturity
 TOOLS

 Apes have shown the ability to use tools

in the modern-day, which can lead to the
assumption that more advanced
hominin’s used tools
 Upright bipedalism would have
facilitated the use of tools and weapons
for hunting and scavenging
 First evidence for hominin stone tool
manufacture is dated to 2.6 million years
ago
HUMAN HISTORY

 Human’s have only been on the earth for about .0003% of the earths entire
history
 If we compare the history of the earth to a normal day…
 The earth was created: 12:00 AM
 Fossils appear: 5:45 AM
 First vertebrate animals appear: 9:02 PM
 First mammals appear: 10:45 PM
 First primates appear: 11:42 PM
 First hominins appear: 11:56 PM
 Earliest humans appear: 11:59:24 PM
 SAHELANTHROPUS TCHADENSIS

 In July 2001 anthropologists working in Central

Africa unearthed the six- to seven-million-year-
old skull of the oldest possible human ancestor
yet found
 The new fossil was dubbed Sahelanthropus
tchadensis, and is regularly called Toumai
which means “hope of life”
 Toumai blends apelike and human
characteristics. Example: While the brain was
still chimp-sized, the face was more flat and
humanlike
 ARDIPITHECUS

 Ardipithecus were apelike in size and

anatomy
 Because of its probable bipedalism,
Ardipithecus is recognized as the earliest
known hominin
 In October 2009, a fairly complete skeleton
of Ardipithecus ramidus called “Ardi” was
discovered
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=C7ve4LIPG9U
 AUSTRALOPITHECINES

 Hominins eventually evolved into

hominins known as the
australopithecines, for which we
have an abundant fossil record
 Australopithecines existed between
1.8-4.2 million years ago
 The skull and upper body are apelike,
while the lower body confirms
bipedalism
 LUCY

 The most complete

australopithecines fossil found
was “Lucy”
 Canines, premolars, and skulls
were more apelike
 On the other hand, the molars,
chewing apparatus, and
cheekbones were more hominin
 The pelvic and limb bones were
indisputably hominin
 ABOUT AUSTRALOPITHECINES

 Diet- vegetation of the savanna, hunted

small and slow animals, and scavenged
 Living- Australopithecines sought safety
(and companionship) in group, probably
with multiple adult males and females
and their young
 Sexual differences- Australopithecines
females were about 4 feet, and males 5
feet tall, and the average female
probably had no more than 60 percent
the weight of the average male
 OLDOWAN TOOLS

 The simplest obviously manufactured

tools were discovered in 1931 in Africa
called the Oldowan Tools
 Stone tools consist of flakes and cores
 The core is the piece of rock, in the
Oldowan case about the size of a tennis
ball, from which flakes are struck
 The purpose of flaking stone in the
Oldowan tradition was to create the
sharp stone flakes that made up a tool kit
 GAHRI TOOLS

 Discovery of the specimen

Australopithecus gahri found tools
that were designed for butchering
meat
 These tools are called Gahri Tools
 This represents a dietary revolution
and a shift from mainly scavenging
and eating vegetation, to
purposefully preparing meats for
consumption