-
- The characteristics of the different species
- The growth of the brains
- The questions
In this paragraph, you can compare the different species of our possible ancestors. First you can check the characteristics of different species, then you can compare their brain sizes.
Ardpithecus ramidus |
|
| Geleefd: | 4,4 million years ago |
| Lengte: | 122 cm |
| Herseninhoud: | - |
| Kenmerken: | Chimpanzee like -lived in forrests- hunchback toes and fingers. |
| Opmerkingen: | - |
Australopihecus anamensis |
|
| Geleefd: | 4,2 - 3,9 million years ago |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | - |
| Kenmerken: | More advanced arms, legs and feet, that is why they might have walked on two feet. Its teeth were more ape-like. |
| Opmerkingen: | - |
Australopihecus afarensis | ||
| Geleefd: | 3,9 - 3,0 million years ago | 
|
| Lengte: | 107 - 152 cm | |
| Herseninhoud: | 375 - 550 cc | |
| Kenmerken: | Smaller teeth, which stand in a parabol-form. The fingers and toes were still crooked. Probably a remainder of climbing in trees. | |
| Opmerkingen: | Lucy belongs to this species. | |
Australopihecus africanus | |
| Geleefd: | 3 - 2 million years ago. |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | 400 - 500 cc |
| Kenmerken: | Small front teeth, back teeth big; they ate fruit and plants. |
| Opmerkingen: | Afarensis en Africanus are also called ook the Gracile Australopithecines, because they were less heavy built in their skulls and teeth. |
Australopihecus aethiopicus |
|
| Geleefd: | 2,6 - 2,3 million years ago. |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | 410 cc |
| Kenmerken: | Different features of primitive and advanced species. |
| Opmerkingen: | Little is known, because there have not been many excavations |
Australopihecus robustus |
|
| Geleefd: | 2 - 1,5 million years ago. |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | 530 cc |
| Kenmerken: | Flatter face with a larger skull. |
| Opmerkingen: | They used bones as digging tools. |
Australopihecus boisei |
|
| Geleefd: | 2 - 1,1 million years ago. |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | - |
| Kenmerken: | Face again flatter and more massive. |
| Opmerkingen: | This species was very robustus-like. The aethiopicus, robustus and boisei are known as the robust Australopithecines, because their bodies are pretty robust built. |
habilis |
||
| Geleefd: | 2,4 - 1,5 million years ago. |  |
| Lengte: | 127 cm | |
| Herseninhoud: | 500 - 800 cc | |
| Kenmerken: | He could make hand-axes and swingstones. Probably, he also could talk. | |
| Opmerkingen: | - | |
erectus |
||
| Lived: | 1,8 miljoen - 300.000 years ago. |  |
| Length: | - | |
| Brainsize: | 750 - 1250 cc | |
| Features: | Ze konden vuur gebruiken | |
| Comment: | Er waren meerdere soorten binnen deze doort: De Europeaans/Afrikaanse
and te Aziatische. Europeaans/Afrikaanse erectus heeft waarschijnlijk efficiënter gelopen dan ons. |
|
sapiens (archaic) |
|
| Geleefd: | 500.000 years ago. |
| Lengte: | - |
| Herseninhoud: | 1200 cc |
| Kenmerken: | The teeth were smaller and less robust. |
| Opmerkingen: | - |
sapiens neanderthalensis | ||
| Geleefd: | 230.000 - 30.000 years ago. |  |
| Lengte: | 168 cm | |
| Herseninhoud: | 1450 cc | |
| Kenmerken: | They were strongly and heavily built. Through the cold they were dependent on fire and the amount of hunt. The were very good hunters, because they had also better tools. | |
| Opmerkingen: | It still is not clear if they are extincted. It was probably the first species, which buried its deaths. |
|
sapiens sapiens |
||
| Geleefd: | 120.000 years ago - now. |  |
| Lengte: | 150 - 180 cm | |
| Herseninhoud: | 1350 cc | |
| Kenmerken: | Bigger forehead, less robust. Better tools, which were also made from different resources. | |
| Opmerkingen: | The last 120.000 years we have changed very much. We became taller and taller and smarter. | |
 |
| Fig 2.3.1: You can see that the Neanderthal man had bigger brains. This does not mean that they had a higher intelligence. A whale has also bigger brains, but he is not more intelligent. The absolute brainsize and the brainsize with respect to the size of the body are both not the decisive factor. |
 |
| Fig 2.3.2: These are the side- and top-views of th Australopithecus africanus, erectus and a early species of the sapiens. You can see that the upper jaw of the Australopithecus africanus is pushed very much forward and that the upper jaw of the early sapiens is not as much pushed forward. You can also see that the skulls became bigger and beigger. This did not mean that the only got a bigger skull, but that their whole body grew. |
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