Word: hominids
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...saga of humanity's origins. The longer scientists study the fossil record, the more convinced they become that evolution did not make a simple transition from ape to human. There were probably many false starts and dead ends. At certain times in some parts of the world, two different hominid species may have competed for survival. And the struggle could have taken a different turn at almost any point along the way. Modern Homo sapiens was clearly not the inevitable design for an intelligent being. The species seems to have been just one of several rival product lines -- the only...
...dominate the earth, begins in Africa. While many unanswered questions remain about when and where modern humans first appeared, their ancestors almost surely emerged from Africa's lush forests nearly 4 million years ago. The warm climate was right, animal life was abundant, and that's where the oldest hominid fossils have been uncovered...
...Ethiopia led by Donald Johanson, now president of IHO, painstakingly pieced together a remarkable ancient primate skeleton. Although about 60% of the bones, including much of the skull, were missing, the scientists could tell that the animal stood 3 ft. 6 in. tall. That seemed too short for a hominid, but the animal had an all important human characteristic: unlike any species of primate known to have come before, this creature walked fully upright. How did the researchers know? The knee joint was built in such a way that the animal could fully straighten its legs. That would have freed...
...Tanzania by a team led by the famed archaeologist Mary Leakey. Set in solidified volcanic ash, the footprints confirmed that Lucy and her kin walked like humans. Some of the A. afarensis specimens date back about 3.9 million years B.P. (before the present), making them the oldest known hominid fossils...
This was a species called Homo habilis, or "handy man." Appearing about 2.5 million years B.P., the new hominid probably didn't look terribly different from its predecessors, but it had a somewhat larger brain. And, perhaps as a result of some mental connection other hominids were unable to make, H. habilis figured out for the first time how to make tools...