A.A is the first species. They are more ape than we are today. A.A actually means Southern ape from Afar, which is located in Eastern Africa. There have been over 300 individual discoveries from paleoanthropologists – they have been around for 3.3 – 2.1 million years. All the discoveries were found throughout Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya, and they also survived for over 900,000 years. Their brain is 500 cubic cm (⅓) the size of our brain. They rapidly grew after birth due to that they also grew in the stomach, and appeared to grow faster when born. They had a more rounder cranium (skull), which included smaller teeth and shorter arms. A.A males height were regularly 5 feet and weighed about 110 Ib (49.8952kg). The females weighed about 70 Ib (31.7515kg) and were at least 4.3 feet. They had a change in environment over the years, the trees began to disappear which didn’t allow them to go into trees (that is how they survived). Some A.A survived the new environment on ground (instead of trees) and some didn’t. The ones that adapted learned to walk which allowed them to move like Lucy (she is the greatest discovery of A.A). Australopithecus Afarensis normally ate the bark of trees, sugars, seeds and even roots. They hunted in groups, to take down large animals.
Greatest Discoveries of Australopithecus Afarensis
The first discovery of A.A was in 1924, in South Africa. The discovery was named, Taungs (a town in South Africa) skull, which was discovered by Raymond Dart. The skull appeared to be from a 3 year old child. There was something odd with the skull, is that there were smallish holes inside the eyes, which was then found out that the child’s eyes were pecked due to an eagle. Taungs Skull is now in respiratory and is held at the university of Witwatersrand.The biggest and most surprising discovery was in 1974, November 24 in Ethiopia. The discovery was named Lucy, this female A.A, was nearly a complete skeleton. Lucy was found by Tom Gray and Donald Johnson. 40% of the skeleton was discovered. But there was something special about Lucy is that she could walk, she could do this because her pelvis was identical towards ours. She adapted to new environments, quicker than others. All other A.A would climb on trees, but she didn’t. This allowed to see predators from further distances and allowed her to run a lot faster. Later for A.A the trees started to disappear, which forced them have to adapt to a new environment, some adapted and some didn’t. If none of them adapted they would become extinct. Lucy was 29Kg and was 1 meter tall (5 year old). Lucy was actually 25 years old but appeared in height to be 5 years in age.
Homo Habilis
Homo Habilis is the second species. Homo Habilis means “Handy Man” in Latin. Homo Habilis have lived for 2.4 – 1.5 milion years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa. A team of scientists ( Louie and Mary Leakey) discovered Homo Habils in 1960. Their average height is 3 ft 4 in – 4ft 5 in (100 – 135 cm). Their average weight is 70 lbs (32 kg).
How they survived: Homo Habilis had smaller teeth than Australopithecus but their jaws were still strong. Homo Habilis are the first ancestors to make tools made out of stone. They used to use sharp tools to cut the meat from a Rhinoceros carcass in Tanzania, East Africa.
Homo Heidelbergensis:
Homo Heidelbergensis were the 4th species of human evolution. H.H lived from 700 – 200 thousand years ago. They were the first early species to live in cold climates. They adapted easier to warmer climates, their short and they have wide bodies. They were also the first to hunt to routinely hunt large animals. Another thing they accomplished was being the first species to make huts and shelters, creating them with wood and rocks. How Homo Heidelbergensis survived by using fire by building Hearths (old fireplaces). Like said they lived in huts to survive and aswell must of discussed around the fire, sharing food, communicating about things. That brings me to them using hunting strategies to hunt large animals. There has been several evidence of H.H hunting large animals, such as Hippos, deers, elephants, and even rhinos. There are butchery marks on the bones of the animals and they are found at the sites of H.H. 400 thousand years ago there were old spears and stone tools found at a place called Schoningen in Germany. The one very famous hut is in Nice, South France. It was named Terra Amata, it was over 14.9m (49 feet) long. It was discovered in 1966 and by Henri De Lumley is a French archeologist, geologist and prehistorian. He works at the museum of Natural History in Paris. Males were 5 feet and 9 inches (175 cm) and weighed about 136ib (65kg). The females were about 5 feet and 2 inches and weighed about 112ib (51kg).German scientist Otto Schoentensack was the first to describe and name Homo Heidelbergensis. There were not to any big discoveries from H.H but their remains were found throughout Arago, France and even Petralona, Greece. Homo Heidelbergensis were named after where they were first discovered, Mauer, near Heidelberg, Germany.