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Human Evolution: Websites

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Smithsonian Human Origins Program - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Age of Homo Sapiens. Topic index | author index | special index The main trend that I have come across while doing this research is that the values given reflect the hierarchical nature of evolution. The Genus Homo appears first around 1,800,000 years ago. The species Homo sapiens appears first around 500,000-300,000 years ago. The subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens appears first around 150,000 years ago.

Every source gave its answer as a time period or estimated length of time. Every source gave its answer as a time period or estimated length of time. Each source did agree on the era. The method used to determine man's age is by dating the fossilized bones of the Homo sapiens found at archaeological digs. Scientists have identified the skeletal structures of Homo sapiens in different parts of the world. Troy Holder -- 1997. Becoming Human. The Leakey Foundation. Ancestral Lines. Evolutionary biologists use a cladogram, the treelike diagram of evolutionary branches or clades, to organize species into lines of evolutionary descent across time. Biologists use three types of evidence to deduce evolutionary connections: genetics, morphology, and geologic dating.

(Behavior, normally a key part of evolutionary studies, can only be inferred in extinct species — for example, by examining the ecology in which the species flourished and the species adaptations for eating and locomotion.) Analyses of primate fossils and the genetic relatedness of living primates converge to the conclusion that humans and chimpanzees branched from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago. DNA recovered from several uncontaminated Neanderthalensis fossils indicated that modern humans and extinct neanderthals diverged about 400,000 years ago; but more recent studies show that they must have interbred within Europe or the Middle East since then.

Early Human Evolution:  Menu of Topics. Human Evolution. Human Evolution: The fossil evidence in 3D. Welcome to the UCSB online 3D gallery of modern primate relatives and fossil ancestors of humans. This gallery contains five modern primate crania, and five fossil crania. The crania can be rotated 360 degrees. Each cranium is accompanied by a short description of its relevance to human evolution, and a site map. You will need the Shockwave plugin from Macromedia to view this gallery (most browsers have this installed already).

If necessary, you can obtain this plugin here. Click here to enter the gallery. Click here for information on the much largerCD-ROM version. Trouble viewing the gallery? The gallery was developed by Phillip Walker and Ed Hagen, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara. This site also hosts the Evolutionary Psychology FAQ.