Who’s Who Among the Early Hominins?

by Randall Susman

Calliope: Exploring World History

Early hominins are our ancestors, early humans. They are often called ape-men because they are a sort of mixture of both. They walk on two feet, like humans, but their body characteristics are very similar to those of apes, especially chimpanzees. There are many different species:

·         Sahelanthropus Tchadensis was discovered in Chad in 2001. It is between 6 and 7 million years old. It had a small skull and was probably bipedal.

·         Orrorin tugenensis was discovered in Kenya. It is between 6.1 and 5.8 million years old. It is the earliest well documented bipedal hominin with primitive bones, and it climbed trees

·         Ardipithecus ramidus (ground ape) was discovered in the Awash River Valley of Ethiopia in 1994. It has a primitive, ape-like skeletal anatomy with small molars and large front teeth.

·         Paranthropus (similar to man) existed at the same time as the early Homo species (2.5 million years old). Scientist think it was very robust, made simple stone tools and had a vegetarian diet

·         Kenyapithecus platyops was found in Kenya in 2001. It is around 3.5 million years old. Not much is known about it...

·         Homo erectus was discovered in Africa, Asia and Europe. It started around 1.8 million years ago. It had a large brain.

·         Homo habilis (handy man) has been discovered in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. It has a large brain and is more human-like than australopithecines. They are divided into two species: Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis.

·         Homo rudolfensis dates to the same period as Homo habilis, though only discovered in northern Kenya.

·         Homo georgicus was discovered in the Republic of Georgia. They are dated around 1.8 million years ago.

·         Homo florensis was discovered recently on the Isles of Floores in Indonesia. Stone tools there date to 94,000 years ago but the skeletal remains only date to 18,000 ago. This species is extremely small.

·         Homo neanderthalensis lived in Europe and Asia from 250,000 to 30,000 years ago. They made stone tools and had large skulls. They were discovered in France.

·         And, of course, the Australopithecines...

To name the various groups of hominins, scientists traditionally use words of Latin, Greek, and Arabic origin from the language spoken where the fossil is found.

“Hominins - Members of a group of primates that include modern humans and all of our bipedal ancestors stretching back in the fossil record to Orrorin tugenensis or perhaps Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This term replaces the earlier term hominid. Hominid now refers only to living primates, such as humans and our closest living relatives, the African apes.”


Susman, Randall. "Who's Who Among the Early Hominins?" Odyssey 1 Oct. 2009: 22-25. Print.