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darwin's hypothesis 1871
Darwin proposed that early human fossils would be found in Africa in his book "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex." He also proposed that humans and African apes had a similar progenitor. The concepts of Charles Darwin will eventually lead to the development of paleoanthropology. However, paleoanthropology did not exist at the time of Darwin's birth, and his views were widely dismissed. -
Java man Jan 1891
Eugene Dubois discovered Java Man's remains in Java, Indonesia, and he was one of the first two Homo Erectus specimens to be discovered. He lived between 700,000 and 1,000,000 years ago. Others disagreed with Dubois and his group's claim that this species was the missing link connecting apes and humans. He was later discovered to be the link between apes and humans. This was significant since Java man was the first Homo Erectus fossil discovered. -
taung child 1924
Raymond Dart, an Australian paleoanthropologist, discovered the Taung skull. The Taung skull belonged to a 3 or 4-year-old child; it was smaller than a current human skull but had human teeth. A hole in the bottom of the skull indicated that this species was bipedal. This creature lived between 2.3 and 2.8 million years ago, according to research. This is important because it demonstrates early hominin brain evolution in a distinctive manner. -
Homo Habilis 1960
Between 1960 and 1963, two scientists named Louis and Mary Leakey found Homo Habilis in Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge. The moniker "handy man" comes from the fact that the species was discovered underground with some tools. Scientists discovered that the species had a vast brain and that they were the first to use the tools, indicating that they were capable of making. This demonstrated how mental capability and thinking had changed. Homo Habilis lived anywhere between 2.3 and 1.6 million years ago. -
lucy 1974
species of hominid was discovered in Northern Ethiopia in 1974 by a team of paleontologists led by Donald Johansen. Australopithecus afarensis was the name given to the species. It's one of the greatest fossil skeletons ever discovered. It was a skeleton of an adult female that was 40% complete. Lucy was the name given to the specimen. Lucy was 109 cm tall and weighed 27 kg. The skeleton's complete provided scientists with far more scientific data than any previous fossil discovered. -
little foot 1994
Ronald J. Clarke's discovery of this foot of an Australopithecus individual (Bipedal Primate with Human and Ape-like Characteristics) prompted paleoanthropologists to learn more about how we first began to walk on two feet, which was extremely important. The fossil belonged to a woman who was around 4 feet tall and had long enough legs to walk on two feet. It lived roughly 3.67 million years ago, according to estimates. -
Ardipithecus Ramidus 2009
Hundreds of fossilized bones were discovered during an expedition in Ethiopia (primarily consisting of dentition and some skull and limb pieces), dating from 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago. Some researchers believed the fossil belonged to Australopithecus, while others speculated and disagreed. The discovery of this species opened up new possibilities for our ape progenitor. This was important because it revealed the appearance of our last common ancestor with chimps. -
Australopithecus sediba 2010
In 2010, Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand discovered two fragmentary bones of Australopithecus sediba, a new species of early hominid he called. The remains were found in a cave that was 1.977 million years old. Berger and his colleagues' subsequent research suggests that Australopithecus sediba descended from Australopithecus africanus and that it may be one of the last ties between the Australopithecus genus and our genus Homo.