hominids

Examples of hominids in the following topics:

• Early Hominins

  • It had a slender build and was bipedal, but had robust arm bones and, as with other early hominids, may have spent significant time in trees.
  • These hominids were larger and had large grinding teeth.
  • These hominids became extinct more than 1 million years ago and are not thought to be ancestral to modern humans, but rather members of an evolutionary branch on the hominin tree that left no descendants.
  • The skull of (a) Australopithecus afarensis, an early hominid that lived between three and four million years ago, resembled that of (b) modern humans, but was smaller with a sloped forehead and prominent jaw.

• Early Human Evolution

  • The term hominin (or hominid) is used to refer to those species that evolved after this split of the primate line, thereby designating species that are more closely related to humans than to chimpanzees.
  • The scientists who discovered the first fossil found that some other scientists did not believe the organism to be a biped (thus, it would not be considered a hominid).

• Paleolithic Architecture

  • Caves are the most famous example of Paleolithic shelters, though the number of caves used by Paleolithic people is drastically small relative to the number of hominids thought to have lived on Earth at the time.
  • Most hominids probably never entered a cave, much less lived in one.
  • Nonetheless, the remains of hominid settlements show interesting patterns.

• Evidence of Evolution

  • (a) In this display, fossil hominids are arranged from oldest (bottom) to newest (top).
  • As hominids evolved, the shape of the skull changed.

• The Origins of Language

  • The opposite viewpoint is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared to anything found among non-humans and that it must therefore have appeared fairly suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man.

• Paleolithic Artifacts

  • Evidence shows these early hominids intentionally selected raw materials with good flaking qualities and chose appropriate-sized stones for their needs to produce sharp-edged tools for cutting.

• Chromosomal Structural Rearrangements

  • It is not known how this inversion contributed to hominid evolution, but it appears to be a significant factor in the divergence of humans from other primates.

• Race

  • Among humans, race has no taxonomic significance — all living humans belong to the same hominid subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens.

• The Evolution of Humans

  • Generally, it is believed that hominids first evolved in Africa and then migrated to other areas.

• Ancient Africa

  • Fossil remains of several species of early hominids thought to have evolved into modern humans have been discovered.