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Java Man
Java Man was among the first couple of Homo Erectus specimens to be discovered, his remains were discovered in Java, Indonesia by Eugene Dubois. He had been living about 700,000 - 1,000,000 years ago. Dubois and his group had argued that this species had been the missing piece to connect apes to humans, others disagreed with this theory. He was later proven to be the connection to apes and humans. This was important because Java man was the first known fossil of the Homo Erectus Species. -
Taung child
An Australian Paleoanthropologist by the name of Raymond Dart found the Taung skull. The Taung skull belonged to a 3 or 4 year old child, the skull was smaller than a modern human but had teeth like a human. The bottom of the skull had an opening to indicate that this species was bipedal. Researches had determined that this was living 2.3 - 2.8 million years ago. This is significant because it showed a great example of early hominin brain evolution. -
Mary Leakey's Big Discovery
Mary Leakey a British Paleoanthropologist made her name in the industry with her discovery of a partial skull fossil of a Proconsul Africanus (an ancestor of apes and humans that lived roughly 25 million years ago) the fossil that was found was the Miocene Era's first species of primate family. Mary continued her expeditions along with her husband and together made a lot significant discoveries. -
Homo Habilis
Homo Habilis (Latin: Handy Man) was a species which was located in Sub-Saharan Africa, living around 1.5 to 2.4 million years ago. Its fossils were found in Olduavi Gorge, Tanzania. H. Habilis was in the middle of the Australopithecus and more advance homo species in terms of evolutionary progress. Their brain was relatively bigger and were known to make tools like cleavers and hammers. This was significant because it showed how there was a change in mental capability and thinking. -
Ardipithecus Ramidus
During an excursion in Ethiopia, hundreds of fossilized bones were found (mostly containing dental and some skull and limb fragments), said to be living between 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago. Some thought the specimen was ancestral to Australopithecus, others speculated and disagreed. The finding of this species offered new possibilities to our common ancestor with the chimps. This was significant because it showed how the last common ancestor for us and chimpanzees would look -
Little Foot
The discovery of this foot of a Australopithecus individual (Bipedal Primate with human and ape-like characteristics) found by Ronald J. Clarke, led paleoanthropologists to discover more information on how we started to walk on two feet which was very significant. The fossil belonged to a female that stood around 4 feet tall and long enough legs to walk with two feet. It was estimated to live around 3.67 million years ago. -
Hobbit-Like Species
A Hobbit-Like Species was found by scientists, the species would appear to not grow past the average size of a 3 year old baby today and skull was the size of a grapefruit. The original skeleton was 3'3 tall and 55 pounds and estimated to be 30 years old when she passed away. some scientists believe that this species had to be living while modern humans were around, it was later than said that they were around 95 to 13 thousand years ago, island-hopping. -
Red Deer Cave People
A mysterious human group named the Red Deer Cave People that lived roughly 11 to 14 thousand years ago were identified from cranial and jaw bones that were found from two caves in southwest china. Researchers believe that they are a hybrid of two species, they're just not sure which ones. There isn't much that is known of them because the species is relatively new to discovery.
