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ShareHuman evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of humans as a distinct species.
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It is the subject of a broad scientific inquiry that seeks to understand and describe how this change and development occurred.
The study of human evolution encompasses many scientific disciplines, most notably physical anthropology, linguistics and genetics.
The term "human," in the context of human evolution, refers to the genus Homo, but studies of human evolution usually include other hominins, such as the australopithecines. Paleoanthropology is the study of ancient humans based on fossil evidence, tools, and other signs of human habitation.
The modern field of paleoanthropology began in the 19th century with the discovery of "Neanderthal man." The eponymous skeleton was found in 1856, but there had been finds elsewhere since 1830. Homo genus In modern taxonomy, Homo sapiens is the only extant species of its genus, Homo.
Likewise, the ongoing study of the origins of Homo sapiens often demonstrates that there were other Homo species, all of which are now extinct.
While some of these other species might have been ancestors of H.
sapiens, many were likely our 'cousins', having speciated away from our ancestral line.
There is not yet a consensus as to which of these groups should count as separate species and which as subspecies of another species.
In some cases this is due to the paucity of fossils, in other cases it is due to the slight differences used to classify species in the Homo genus.
For more information about the topic Human evolution, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Homo (genus) — Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.5 million years old. All ... > read more
Rhodesian Man — Rhodesian Man (Homo rhodesiensis) is a hominin fossil that was described from a cranium found in an iron and zinc mine in Northern Rhodesia (now ... > read more
Homo rudolfensis — Homo rudolfensis is a fossil hominin species originally proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev for the specimen Skull 1470 (KNM ER 1470). Originally ... > read more
Homo erectus — Homo erectus ("upright man") is a hominin species that is believed to be an ancestor of modern humans (with Homo heidelbergensis usually treated as ... > read more
Homo antecessor — Homo antecessor is an extinct hominin species that was discovered by E. Carbonell, J.L. Arsuaga and J.M. Bermudez de Castro. They are one of the ... > read more
Homo habilis — Homo habilis ("handy man", "skillful person") is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2.5 million to 1.8 million years ago at ... > read more
Multiregional hypothesis — The multiregional origin hypothesis of human species holds that some, or all, of the genetic variation between the contemporary human races is ... > read moreRecommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
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