List of human evolution fossils

The following charts give a brief overview of several notable primate fossil finds relating to human evolution. As there are thousands of fossils, mostly fragmentary, often consisting of single bones or isolated teeth with complete skulls and skeletons rare,^[1] this overview is not meant to be complete, but does show some of the most important finds. The fossils are arranged by approximate age as determined by radiometric dating and/or incremental dating. The species name represents current consensus, when there is no clear scientific consensus the other possible classifications are indicated; deprecated classifications may be found on the fossil's page. Most of the fossils shown are not considered direct ancestors to Homo sapiens but are closely related to direct ancestors and are therefore important to the study of the lineage.

7 million - 3.5 million years old

3.5 million - 2.5 million years old

2.5 million - 1 million years old

1 million - 300,000 years old

300,000 - 50,000 years old ; Middle Paleolithic

50,000 - 10,000 years old : Upper Paleolithic

10,000 - 5000 years old - Mesolithic / Neolithic

Abbreviations used in fossil catalog name

• AL - Afar Locality, Ethiopia
• ARA-VP - Aramis Vertebrate Paleontology, Ethiopia
• BOU-VP - Bouri Vertebrate Paleontology, Ethiopia
• ER - East (Lake) Rudolf, Kenya
• KGA - Konso-Gardula, Ethiopia
• KNM - Kenya National Museum
• KP - Kanapoi, Kenya
• OH - Olduvai Hominid, Tanzania
• SK - Swartkrans, South Africa
• Sts,Stw - Sterkfontein, South Africa
• TM - Transvaal Museum, South Africa
• TM - Toros-Menalla, Chad
• WT - West (Lake) Turkana, Kenya

See also

• Human evolution
• List of fossil primates
• List of fossil sites
• List of notable fossils
• List of transitional fossils
• Paleoanthropology
• Most recent common ancestor

Further reading

The following is a list of books that provide useful reviews or overviews of primate fossil histories, including (e.g.) diagrams, photos and good referencing.

• Weiss, M.L., & Mann, A.E (1985). 'Human Biology and Behaviour: An anthropological perspective (4th ed.). Boston: Little Brown. ISBN 978-0-673-39013-4  (Note: this book contains very accessible descriptions of human and non-human primates, their evolution, and fossil history).

• Jones, Steve; Martin, Robert D.; Pilbeam, David R (Editors). (1994). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human evolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46786-5  (Note: this book contains very useful, information dense chapters on primate evolution in general, and human evolution in particular, including fossil history).

• Hartwig, Walter, ed (2002. Reprinted 2004). The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-08141-2. http://books.google.com/?id=Ezm1OA_s6isC&printsec=frontcover&dq=hartwig+primate&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false  (Needs no real explanation. The title says it all).

References

• Tattersall, Ian, Schwartz, Jeffery (2000). Extinct Humans. Westview Press, Boulder CO. ISBN 978-0-8133-3482-0. 
• Larsen, Clark Spencer, Matter, Robert M, Gebo, Daniel L (1991). Human Origins: the fossil record. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL. ISBN 978-0-88133-575-0. 
• "Smithsonian Human Origins Program". http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
• "Prominent Hominid Fossils". http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/specimen.html. Retrieved 2006-08-31. 
• Grine, F.E; Jungers, W.L; Schultz, J. (1996). "Phenetic Affinities Among Early Homo Crania from East and South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution 30 (3): 189–225. doi:10.1006/jhev.1996.0019. 

External links

• Interactive map of primate fossil finds around the world
• Informative lecture on Australopithecines