Category Archives: Human evolution

Human evolution: why we’re more than great apes

Posted on July 10, 2017 by

Palaeoanthropologists have used the anatomical signs of bipedalism to identify our earli­est ancestors, demonstrating our shared genetic heritage with great apes. However, despite this shared history, human evolution set out on a trajectory that has led to significant distinctions from … Continue reading →

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On the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens

Posted on June 8, 2017 by

Fossil evidence points to an African origin of Homo sapiens from a group called either H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis. However, the exact place and time of emergence of H. sapiens remain obscure because the fossil record is scarce and the chronological age of … Continue reading →

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Neanderthal

Posted on March 31, 2017 by

Neanderthals are an extinct group of fossil humans that appeared in Western Eurasia in the mid-Middle Pleistocene. They shared the stage with the first modern humans arriving in Europe from around 45,000 years ago, before disappearing from the fossil record … Continue reading →

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Homo Heidelbergensis

Posted on March 31, 2017 by

Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of human that is identified in both Africa and western Eurasia from roughly 700,000 years ago onwards until around 200,000 years ago – fitting snugly within the Middle Pleistocene. Named for a piece of … Continue reading →

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How Ancient Hominid Interbreeding has Shaped Humans Today

Posted on November 2, 2016 by

Over the past half-decade, ancient DNA research has revealed some surprising aspects to our evolutionary history during the past 50,000 years. Perhaps the most startling of these has been the extent to which the ancestors of living people across the … Continue reading →

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Human Evolution – An Illustrated Introduction

Posted on March 23, 2016 by

The origin of modern humans continues to be a major topic in paleoanthropology.  The debate over the mode of the origin of modern humans – was it a single, recent origin or global and gradual – continues, but new genetic … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Human development, Human evolution, Humans | Tagged , , ,

Human Evolution – A Very Short Introduction

Posted on March 23, 2016 by

Many of the important advances made by biologists in the past 150 years can be reduced to a single metaphor. All living, or extant, organisms, that is, animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and all the types of organisms that lived … Continue reading →

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Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation

Posted on February 8, 2016 by

What explains the staggering diversity of cultures in the world? Why are there so many languages, even within small areas? Why do we rejoice in rituals and wrap ourselves in flags? In Wired for Culture Mark Pagel, the world’s leading … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperation, Cultural development, Cultural differences, Cultural diversity, Culture, Human evolution, Human intelligence | Tagged , , , , , ,