ANTHRCUL 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Brain Size, Homo Erectus, Parallel Array

• School: U of M
• Department: Anthropology, Cultural
• Course: ANTHRCUL 101
• Professor: Andrew Shryock

Document Summary

In previous lectures, we divided the existing primate species into taxanomic divisions. Like other mammals, primates have evolved and radiated over the last 65 million years. Ancestral hominids (which evolved into chimps, gorillas, and humans) appeared about 8 million years ago. The hominins (ancestors of humans) evolved into several species about 5-2 mya. The evolution of our own genus, homo, has taken place during the last 2. 5 million years. The idea of a missing link between chimps and humans is based on the false assumption that humans evolved from chimps and gorillas. Actually, all three genera evolved from a common ancestor that was not a chimp, gorilla, or human. About 6 mya, human ancestors split off from those of chimps and gorillas. Between 8 and 6 mya, the three genera were merged in the hypothetical hogopan. lived in east africa.