Human Origins

Dr. Rick Potts- Curator of the Human Origins exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution

Paleoanthropology is the scientific study of human evolution. A subfield of antropology, paleoanthropology is the study of the evolution of human biology, culture, and society . 

Diversity of the human family tree using replica skulls belonging to our ancient hominin relatives displayed in the Natural History Museum in London. Visit their website for “Human Evolution” https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/human-evolution.html
Some of John Gurche‘s reconstuctions of ancient humans at the Smithsonian Institution “Human Origins” exhibit

Visit the Smithsonian’s “Human Origins” website what each ancient human might have looked like. http://humanorigins.si.edu/exhibit/reconstructions-early-humans

Most recent referenced classification of Hominoidea*
See Tribe Hominini– Ancient Humans Below:


Hominins refer to early humans that originated in the Cradle of Humankind ( known previously as the Cradle of Civilization) on the continent of Africa about 50 km northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa

Hominin “LUCY” Australopithicus afarensis forensic facial reconstruction by John Gurche in 2010.

Tribe Hominini
Subtribe Australopithecina– in chronological order
Genus Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Genus Orrorin tugenensis
Genus Ardipithecus
Ardipithecus kadabba
Ardipithecus ramidus
Genus Australopithecus
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus afarensis “Lucy”
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus garhi
Genus Paranthropus
Paranthropus aethiopicus
Paranthropus boisei
Paranthropus robustus
Genus Kenyanthropus platyops
Subtribe Hominina – in chronological order
Genus Homo
Homo habilis
Homo rudolfensis
Homo ergaster
Homo georgicus
Homo erectus
Homo cepranensis
Homo antecessor
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo rhodesiensis
Homo neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens idaltu
Homo sapiens (Cro-Magnon)
Homo sapiens sapiens (Modern man)
Homo floresiensis “Hobbit”
Homo luzonensis <placement unsure>
* Denisovans began as Homo erectus that migrated out of Africa to the Altai Mountains in the Denisova Cave of Siberia. Occupation in this Russian cave, based on artifacts found, began during the Middle Pleistocene. It is assumed that Denisovans lived concurrently with Neanderthals at some point in time since there is DNA evidence of a young girl “Denny” who had a Denisovan father and Neanderthal mother. Possible names given to the Denisovan fossils are still being debated:
Homo denisova, Homo altaiensis, and Homo sapiens denisova.
Placement in Chronology not clear yet for this author.


* References for Hominoidea classification:
1)Larsen, Clark Spencer (ed) 2010. A companion to biological anthropology. Blackwell. Chapter 3 (Bernard A. Wood) Systematics, taxonomy & phylogenetics, 56–73. ISBN 978-1405189002
2)Stanford, Craig; Allen, John S. & Anton, Susan C. 2011. Biological anthropology. Pearson. ISBN 978-0205150687




Homo erectus/ Australopithecus afarensis “Lucy”, / Homo neanderthalensis,
2 million years old/ 3.2 million years old / 400,000 – 40,000 years old
Actual fossils found are represented by the darker bones on the skeletons.