Early Hominids

(photographs and descriptions courtesy of LuAnn Wandsnider, University of Nebraska at Lincoln)

Australopithecus afarensis ("Lucy," from Afar Ethiopia; bipedal but also arm bones indicate arboreal locomotion); 4-3 million years BP; brain size: 350-400 cc

Australopithecus africanus (a gracile, early form; precedes A. robustus; only found in Southern Africa); 3-1.5 million years BP; brain size: 450-550 cc

Australopithecus robustus (a megadont with saggital crest to which chewing muscles attached, contemporary with H. habilis); 2.6-1 million years BP; 500-550 cc

Homo habilis (first tool using hominid); 2-1.5 million years BP 650-775 cc

Homo erectus (very tall (some African forms are > 6 feet) hominid; probably a diet more similar to ours; fire using; expands from Africa into temperate Eurasia) 2 million to 200,000 years BP; brain size 700-800 cc