Human Evolution: an

overview

Dr Jeremy Pritchard
o Hominoid: Great apes and humans
o Hominid: Closer to us than gorillas and chimps
 You Cuz

Dad Mum Aunt Uncle

o Humans did not evolve from Apes

o You are descended from your mother and father
o You are related to your aunt and cousin
Common
ancestor
Contemporar
y
animals
 Contemporar
y
animals

Fossil
s
 Organisms with
common features
are likely to have a
more recent
common ancestor.
Locomotion
Brachiation:
o Grip
o Stereo vision
Humerus

Femur
1. Chimpanzee 2. Australopithecus africanus 3. Homo erectus 4. Homo sapiens
Brain size
Primate Characteristics/Trends

o Brains larger than other animals

 Brains larger than other animals in relation to body size

Log brain weight (g)

Brains larger than other animals

Log body weight (g)

Information from the skeleton
sex
age
stature
race/species
pathological conditions
skeletal trauma
Trauma
Trauma
Trauma
Trauma
Proconsul
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
close to the common ancestor of humans and
chimpanzees @ 7 million years
Australopithecus afarensis

Lucy, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.

 Australopithecus africanus

Southern Ape of Africa

Dont run before you can walk
Homo habilis (ca. 2.5-1.6 mya)
Homo erectus (1.6 mya-300 kya)
Homo neanderthal

Homo sapiens

Homo erectus

Homo habilis

Australopithicus ramapithicus
africanus
Skull radius (cm) Brian volume (cm3)

6 454

6.25 513

6.5 577

6.75 646

7 720

7.25 800

7.5 886

7.75 978

8 1075

8.25 1179

8.5 1290

8.75 1407

9 1531

9.25 1662

9.5 1800

9.75 1946

10 2100

10.25 2261

10.5 2431

10.75 2609

11 2795

11.25 2990

11.5 3194
Neanderthals (ca. 100-32 kya)
Neanderthals (ca. 100-32 kya)

o Restricted to Europe, eastern Middle

East during Ice Age
o Evolved to be cold-adapted:
Short and stocky
Large nose (for warming
air)
Barrel chest (for warming
air)
Long, low, thick skull but
with large Brain
Neanderthals are not our ancestors

H o m o h a b ilis

H o m o e re c tu s

A r c h a ic H o m o s a p ie n s H o m o s a p ie n s n e a n d e r ta le n s is

H o m o s a p ie n s s a p ie n s
 NOT our ancestors.

Krings et al 1997 Neandertal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans
Are we still evolving?
Microevolution: change in gene frequency - YES
Macro evolution : formation of species - NO
Are we still evolving?
Some parts of Africa have seen an increase in the
frequency of a gene called CCR5-32
Protects against infection with HIV-1.
May have been selected for during bubonic plague
 Human Evolution - Chimps are our closest
relative

25,000 genes 25, 000 genes