A Timeline that summarizes the hominid sequence according to the SAGS document. This was very helpful for me to see everything on one page and especially to remember all the dates. I hope you find it as helpful as I did!
Timeline
Australopithecines: Rift Valley Diagnostic features: Homo: (homo genus) 2,4 mya - present Diagnostic features:
(Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and in SA. - quite short Dramatic climate change between 2 and 3 million years ago created evolutionary -height 1.3m - 2m, posture erect
1. A gracile (thin/slender) form, with -face strongly projecting (prognathic), low sloping forehead, large brow ridges, sometimes cranial ridges, no chin. pressure on the ape-men (australopithecines) living in the Cradle of Humankind. -foramen magnum centrally placed under skull
smaller teeth and chewing muscles -palate is u-shaped *link to ecology. Environmental resistance. Natural Selection. Forced to change -hands (long thumbs) smaller than its feet
emerged is likely to have led to the first Trend: reduction in canine size in later Australopithecines + disappearance of diastema Speciation occured and a certain group of the australopithecines, possibly A.africanus, -brain large and more complex (this led to noticeable new behaviours e.g.
humans. E.g. Australopithecus africanus -brain capacity is small may have started resembling the earliest members of our own genus sophisticated tool-making, more advanced hunting methods, etc
and Au.sediba -walked bipedally -main way of moving Found in places other than Africa ,e.g. China, Java and Europe -dexterous hands enabled tool-making
2. A robust form, with very large jaws and -position of foramen magnum (more forward) - human-like pelvis, leg and foot bones confirm this -skull with: less prominent brow ridges, flatter face, no cranial ridge, human teeth
teeth emerged e.g. (Australopithecus) -arms long and strong, hand curved, legs relatively short, feet short with long toes. Suggest they still climbed trees. (small molars and no large canines) and parabolic palate (dental arch)
robustus - do not need to know - probably omnivores, scavenging food from carcasses killed by lions and other predators and feeding off fruits and leaves -omnivorous, meat a large part of their diet.
Homo erectus Homo neanderthalensis
Australopithecus afarensis (A.afarensis) Australopithecus sediba (A.sediba) 1,8 - 0,3 mya 235 000 - 30 000 years ago
4 - 3 mya 2 - 1.7 mya More graceful. 1st to move out of Africa. Also, Neanderthals in Europe during an ice age.
*had both ape and human characteristics, probably ancestral to Homo genus Odd blend of primitive and modern hominins traits that makes it a possible candidate for the toolmakers. (More complex) Tools used to hunt small
*adaptations for living both in trees and on ground helped them survive as climate Recent mtDNA studies indicate H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis were contemporaries for
immediate ancestor of Homo sapiens mammals. First species to use and control fire.
and environments changed approximately 10 000 years and that there was a little interbreeding between the two species. Not the
*may be a ‘key transitional species’ between Australopithecus (A. africanus) and the early Disputed ancestor of Neanderthals and H.sapiens in
*lived for over four times as long as our own species has been around (very direct ancestors of modern humans, they are our closest extinct relatives
Homo species Europe.
successful) Development of culture- share some cultural traits with modern humans, e.g. burial of
Diagnostic features: Diagnostic features:
Diagnostic features: dead
-short
-height 1.2 m Large brain capacity (1000 cc) Diagnostic features:
- small cranial capacity -skull has brow ridges, no cranial ridges Males were tall as modern humans -height about 1.6m, heavy skeleton
-light build, long arms, curved fingers and toes -less prognathous Perfectly adapted to bipedal locomotion -large brain (1450 cc) but forebrain smaller than modern humans
- ape-like features -skull has low forehead, brow ridge, flat nose, sloping face,no -Australopithecine traits -small brain capacity, long arms, short strong hands suitable for Examples -skull with low cranium, smaller brow ridges, forehead that slopes back, long face
chin climbing (tree-climbing) ‘Turkana Boy’ - 90% complete skeleton, the best preserved
- dentition primitive with a diastema and canines sticking beyond other teeth -little evidence of technological development as hunting was done with simple tool kits
-Homo traits - wider and shallower pelvis, long legs capable of striding and possibly running early Homo fossil yet found. Discovered in Turkana in
-sexual dimorphism evident -disappeared, possibly out-competed by other Homo species
like a human and relatively small premolars and molars, short canines (regular up right Kenya by Richard Leakey.
- only been found in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania
walking)
Examples ‘Java man’ discovered in Java, Indonesia by Eugène
Examples
‘Lucy’ (3.2 mya) from Awash Valley, (Ethiopia) by Donald Johansen Dubois
Laetoli Fossil Footprints - trace fossils that show bipedal walking as the big toe is in
Two partial skeletons were found at Malapa Fossil Site in the Cradle of Humankind and
line with the other toes identified by Professor Lee Berger
Australopithecus africanus (A.africanus) Modern Homo Sapiens
3-2 mya Homo habilis Homo naledi 200 000 years ago - present
A hominin with a mixture of ape and human characteristics 2,4 -1,6 mya 335 000 - 236 000 years ago There is archaeological evidence of cultural evidence/modern human behaviour, e.g.
lived in the Gauteng highveld (cradle of humankind). Less ape- ‘Handy man’/ first tool maker Is a species of hominid discovered in 2013 in the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of art (shell beads, hearths), shellfish collecting and human burials, from about 100
like than earlier australopithecines. May well have been the Its brain is about 20% larger than its ancestors. Developed a Humankind, South Africa by Palaeonanthropologist Lee Berger 000 years ago. It is assumed that the increase in brain size was responsible for those
ancestor of our own genus Homo. characteristic that is uniquely human, the making of tools. Along with similarities to contemporary Homo, they share several characteristics with activities.
Diagnostic features: *second major step in human evolution the ancestral Australopithecus and early Homo as well. Sophisticated tool-kits (stone blades and stone spears) for hunting large game
-quite short Diagnostic features: -a small cranial capacity of 465-610 cc Group hunting
- small brain capacity -robust skeleton with relatively long arms and shorter legs -estimated to have averaged 143,6cm in height First to use fire to make artefacts
-slight build, probably with long arms and shorter legs -brain capacity is about 700 cc -39,7kg in weight Diagnostic features:
-skull with less prominent brow ridges, higher forehead and -cranium rounded, large brow ridges, no forehead and a -H.naledi brain anatomy seems to have been similar to contemporary Homo, which -height (1.6 - 1.8m), taller than earlier Homo species
shorter face than earlier australopithecines slightly projecting face could indicate cognitive complexity. -build slender, upright
-teeth and jaws much larger than humans, a u-shaped palate, -molars large and narrow with strong jaw H.naledi anatomy indicates that, though they were capable of long distance travel -brain capacity about 1350cc
reduced canine teeth and no diastema -first hominin toolmaker used tools to scavenge kills with a humanlike stride and gait, they were more arboreal than other Homo, better -foramen magnum placed centrally under skull
-only been found in SA rather than hunt. Tools possibly necessary for survival as adapted to climbing and behaviour in trees than endurance running. -skull well-rounded, forehead flat and near vertical, face small and flattened, small or
-lived in small social groups and ate fruits and leaves and climate change probably reduced choice of plant foods. Tooth anatomy suggests consumption of gritty foods covered in particulates such as no brow ridges, small jaw with smallest teeth of the Homo species
probably scavenged on the remains of animals killed by -lived in East Africa dust or dirt. -legs are longer and arms shorter
predators Fossil locations: Though they have not been associated with stone tools or any indication of material -chin is strong, possibly created a larger space below the tongue for the development
Examples (be able to make deductions if given a picture) Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) culture, they appear to have been dexterous enough to produce and handle tools. of language
‘Taung child’ (2.5 mya) from Taung discovered by Raymond Dart Eastern shore of Lake Turkana, (Kenya) It has also been controversially postulated that these individuals were given funeral -feet have parallel toes -big toe enlarged and others are small, heel bone large and
*remarkably well preserved 3 year old child’s skull and an Discovered by: Louis Leakey and Philip Tobias rites and were carried into and placed in a chamber. longitudinal arch rigid. Arch absorbs shock and gives propulsive spring while walking
endocranial cast of its brain -a skilled hunter, tool-maker and artist
‘Mrs Ples’ from Sterkfontein Caves in Cradle of Humankind -emerged in Africa
discovered by Robert Bloom
*most complete skull ever found in SA (position of foramen Discoveries
magnum (point at which the spinal chord passes through to the Omo remains in the Omo site in Ethiopia by Richard Leakey
brain and skull articulates with the vertebral column) indicates Border Cave (KZN)
these creatures were fully bipedal) Klassies River Mouth- burial of the dead
Blombos Cave - engraved orchre artefacts (production of art), complex hunting toolkit
Pinnacle Point cave, Mossel Bay - fire treated stone tools (using fire to treat rock to
improve the quality of stone tools to hunt large animal species), using fire to make
ochre artefacts*evidence that suggests that the developing ingenuity of early
H.sapiens saved from from extinction.
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