By Kaavya Saraswathi

What is the Origin of Man?

• Is how humans came to this
world. Hominids are primates
that belong to the family
Hominidae. We humans are
hominids. We have evolved from
other hominids that lived
millions of years ago. Today, we
are going to see the origins of
humans.
 Australopithecines
• Australopithecines were the early hominids modern human brain), and long, strong arms
that lived on Earth. There was a fossil of an with curved fingers adapted for climbing trees.
Australopithecus found in Ethiopia (1974). It They also had small canine teeth like all other
was called Lucy, she lived on Earth, 7 million early humans, and a body that stood on two
years ago. The Australopithecus lived for more legs and regularly walked upright. Their
than 900,000 years ago. adaptions for living both in the trees and on the
• Height:Male-4ft 11inches(151cm) Female-3ft ground helped them survive for almost a
5inches(105cm) million years as climate and environments
changed.
• Weight:Male-92lbs(42kgs) Females-
64lbs(29kgs)
• This species had apelike face proportions (a flat
nose, a strongly projecting lower jaw) and
braincase (with a small brain, usually less than
500 cubic centimeters—about 1/3 the size of a
 Homo Habilis
• Homo Habilis which means “Handy including long arms and a moderately-
Man”. It translates to Handy Man prognathic face.
because this species was thought to • Height: 3ft 4inches-4ft 5inches(100-
represent the first maker of stone tools. 135cm)
• They lived in Eastern and Southern • Weight:70lbs(32kgs)
Africa 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago.
• The Homo Habilis was one of the
earliest members of the genus Homo.
This species has a slightly larger
braincase and smaller face and teeth
than in Australopithecus. But it still
retains some ape-like features,
 Homo Erectus
• The Homo Erectus which also means “Upright face.
Man”. There was a fossil found in • Height: 4ft 9inches-6ft 1inch(145-185cm)
Turkana,Kenya. It was called “Turkana
boy”(because it was found in Turkana). • Weight:88-150lbs(40-68kgs)
• The Homo Erectus lived in Northern, Eastern
and Southern Africa; Western Asia between
1.89 million and 110,000years ago.
• This species is the earliest known humans to
have possessed modern like human like body
proportions with relatively elongated legs and
shorter arms compared to the size of torso.
These features are considered adaptations to a
life lived on the ground, indicating the loss of
earlier tree-climbing adaptations, with the
ability to walk and possibly run long distances,
Compared with earlier fossil humans, note the
expanded braincase relative to the size of the
 Homo Sapiens
• We are the Homo Sapiens. We evolved in skull with a flat and near vertical forehead.
Africa. We have lived from 300,000years ago to Modern human faces also show much less (if
the present. any) of the heavy brow ridges and prognathism
• Like other early humans that were living at this of other early humans. Our jaws are also less
time, the Homo Sapiens also gathered and heavily developed, with smaller teeth.
hunted food, and evolved behaviors that
helped them respond to the challenges of
survival in unstable environments.
• Modern humans can generally characterized by
the lighter build of their skeletons compared to
earlier humans. They have very large brains,
which vary in size from population and
between males and females, but the average
size is approximately 1300 cubic centimeters.
Housing this big brain involved the
reorganization of the skull into what is thought
of as “modern”– a thin-walled, high vaulted
Thank you
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