Africa: Human Evolution

Early Man

The evidence of these species were also found in Lake Turkana in Kenya in the form of the famous "KNM-ER 1470" skull which is 1.88 millions years old.

As the evolutionary cycle continues, 1.6 million years later, Homo habilis gave way to Homo erectus. With a larger and more complex brain and a more erect and easier walking posture, these creatures were the more advanced of the two, and were mostly likely the ones who learned to use fire and the more sophisticated tools such as hand-axes.

The earliest examples of these species and their tools came from ancient lakeside sites in eastern Africa. Such stone-age tools were also found in other areas in the continent, usually near water, seldom in rainforests where there was little food. A

An excellent example of Homo erectus was found in a swamp, near the west shore of present-day Lake Turkana in Kenya. A skeleton of a young boy was found; less than twelve years old, his body was entombed in mud about 1.6 million years ago.

This skeleton was the most complete specimen of an ancestral hominid ever found. At an early age, Homo erectus began spreading to Europe and Asia, thus setting the stage for world evolution.   1     2     3