Take a journey through time as we trace the origins of human evolution. Here's an overview of how we — Homo sapiens — evolved from our early ancestors.
Since Darwin revealed his seminal theory of evolution by natural selection, human beings have endeavored to understand their own evolutionary origins and history. A lot of questions still remain, but these mainly pertain to the specifics. Today, paleoanthropologists understand in great detail the evolutionary emergence of a number of traits that we consider, at least superficially, unique to modern humans.
"The first hominins we see appearing 7 million to 4 million years ago, they seem to be walking on two legs, but they are probably short, like 4 feet tall," says Bridget Alex, a paleoanthropologist from Harvard University's Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. Most fossil remains from the period are fragmentary, with parts of the skull or tooth providing anthropologists with evidence of their physiology.
"We are the sweatiest primate by far. We have way more sweat glands than any other mammal. This, combined with our light hair, allows the sweat to evaporate easily, which has a cooling effect," says Alex.Homo erectus is known for its controlled use of fire, advanced toolmaking skills and the ability to migrate out of Africa. We have evidence of the first sporadic use of fire, with discolored sediments found in Koobi Fora, Kenya.
Cooking our food breaks it down mechanically and chemically, making it easier for our digestive system to extract energy from it. This likely helped feed our growing, metabolically expensive brains with a steady energy source. Even other animals will often prefer to eat cooked food over raw food if given the option., and at this point, they are probably as tall as living humans. They have much smaller brains, but from the neck down, they look very much like modern humans," she says.
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