Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Crude attempt at a evolutionary tree of humanity after Homo habilis(Africa, 2,3-1,8 million years ago):

1.Homo ergaster
(Africa, 1,85 mya - 100 000 ya).
1.1. Homo erectus(Asia, 1,8 mya - 27 000 ya) . Possibly just an Asian form of H. ergaster.
1.1.1. Homo floresiensis (Asia, 95 000-12 000 ya).
1.2. Homo antecessor (Europe, 0,8-0,7 mya). Possibly just a European form of H. ergaster.
1.3. Homo heidelbergensis
(Africa, Europe 0,6-0,3 mya). Possibly descendant of H. antecessor.
1.3.1 Homo neanderthalensis(Europe, Asia, archaic form 0,3-0,135 mya, classic form 135 000 - 29 000 ya).
1.3.2 Homo sapiens idaltu(Africa, 160 000 - 154 000 ya).
1.3.2.1. Homo sapiens sapiens(Africa circa 150 000 years ago - to today, when we are everywhere).

If H. ergaster, H. erectus and H. antecessor are all just variants of the same species, then the name of that species is H. erectus.

Between African H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens idaltu there are "archaic" forms of Homo sapiens, of whom the most famous is from current Zimbabwe, still known as "Rhodesian Man", and it lived about 250 000 years ago. Possible modern H. sapiens skulls have been found from Morocco and dated at 150 000 years ago, certainly modern humans were living at South Africa 115 000 years ago.

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