prepare a timeline of human evolution
Answers
Answer:
55 million years ago (MYA)
First primitive primates evolve
8 – 6 MYA
First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge
5.8 MYA
Orrorin tugenensis, oldest human ancestor thought to have walked on two legs
5.5 MYA
Ardipithecus, early “proto-human” shares traits with chimps and gorillas, and is forest-dwelling
4 MYA
Australopithecines appear. They have brains no larger than a chimpanzee’s – with a volume around 400 – 500 cm3 -, but walk upright on two legs. First human ancestors to live on the savannah
3.2 MYA
Lucy, famous specimen of Australopithecus afarensis, lives near what is now Hadar, Ethiopia
2.7 MYA
Paranthropus, lives in woods and grasslands, has massive jaws for chewing on roots and vegetation. Becomes extinct 1.2 MYA
2.5 MYA
Homo habilis appears. Its face protrudes less than earlier hominids, but still retains many ape features. Has a brain volume of around 600 cm3
Hominids start to use stone tools regularly, created by splitting pebbles – this starts Oldowan tradition of toolmaking, which last a million years
Some hominids develop meat-rich diets as scavengers, the extra energy may have favoured the evolution of larger brains
2 MYA
Evidence of Homo ergaster, with a brain volume of up to 850 cm3, in Africa
1.8 – 1.5 MYA
Homo erectus is found in Asia. First true hunter-gatherer ancestor, and also first to have migrated out of Africa in large numbers. It attains a brain size of around 1000 cm3
1.6 MYA
Possible first sporadic use of fire suggested by discoloured sediments in Koobi Fora, Kenya. More convincing evidence of charred wood and stone tools is found in Israel and dated to 780,000 years ago
More complex Acheulean stone tools start to be produced and are the dominant technology until 100,000 years ago
600,000 YA
Homo Heidelbergensis lives in Africa and Europe. Similar brain capacity to modern humans
500,000 YA
Earliest evidence of purpose-built shelters – wooden huts – are known from sites near Chichibu, Japan
400,000 YA
Early humans begin to hunt with spears
325,000 YA
Oldest surviving early human footprints are left by three people who scrambled down the slopes of a volcano in Italy
280,000 YA
First complex stone blades and grinding stones
230,000 YA
Neanderthals appear and are found across Europe, from Britain in the west to Iran in the east, until they become extinct with the advent of modern humans 28,000 years ago
195,000 YA
Our own species Homo sapiens appears on the scene – and shortly after begins to migrate across Asia and Europe. Oldest modern human remains are two skulls found in Ethiopia that date to this period. Average human brain volume is 1350 cm3
170,000 YA
Mitochondrial Eve, the direct ancestor to all living people today, may have been living in Africa
150,000 YA
Humans possibly capable of speech. 100,000-year-old shell jewellery suggests that that people develop complex speech and symbolism
140,000 YA
First evidence of long-distance trade
110,000 YA
Earliest beads – made from ostrich eggshells – and jewellery
50,000 YA
“Great leap forward”: human culture starts to change much more rapidly than before; people begin burying their dead ritually; create clothes from animal hides; and develop complex hunting techniques, such as pit-traps.
Colonisation of Australia by modern humans
33,000 YA
Oldest cave art. Later, Stone Age artisans create the spectacular murals at Lascaux and Chauvet in France
Homo erectus dies out in Asia – replaced by modern man
18,000 YA
Homo Floresiensis, “Hobbit” people, found on the Indonesian island of Flores. They stand just over 1 metre tall, and have brains similar in size to chimpanzees, yet have advanced stone tools
12,000 YA
Modern people reach the Americas
10,000 YA
Agriculture develops and spread. First villages. Possible domestication of dogs
5,500 YA
Stone Age ends and Bronze Age begins. Humans begin to smelt and work copper and tin, and use them in place of stone implements
5,000 YA
Earliest known writing
4,000 to 3,500 BC
Explanation: