- Human evolution is the evolutionary process that led to the emergence of anatomically modern humans. The topic typically focuses on the evolutionary history of the primates, rather than studying the earlier history that led to the primates.
- Genetic studies show that primates diverged from other mammals about 85 million years ago.
- The earliest documented representative of the genus Homo[1] is Homo habilis, which evolved around 2.8 million years ago, and is arguably the earliest species for which there is positive evidence of the use of stone tools. The brains of these early hominins[2] were about the same size as that of a chimpanzee.
- With the arrival of Homo erectus and Homo ergaster in the fossil record, cranial capacity had doubled to 850 cm3.
- According to the recent African origin of modern humans theory, modern humans evolved in Africa and migrated out of the continent some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, gradually replacing local populations of Homo erectus, Denisova hominins, Homo floresiensis and Homo neanderthalensis.[3]
References
- ↑ Homo is the genus that comprises the species Homo sapiens, which includes modern humans, as well as several extinct species classified as ancestral to or closely related to modern humans
- ↑ The group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors.
- ↑ Wikipedia, Human evolution
