There were many species of primates during the ice ages. The apes and Old World monkeys evolved from creatures such as aergyptopithecus which lived in the Oligocene, some 36.5 million years ago.
 
    About six million years ago, early primates gave rise to the family hominidae. Humans belong to the family hominidae, which lived during the Late Miocene Period. The first humans to walk upright were the hominids; Australopithecus was also the hominid’s earliest known genus. About 2.5 million years ago, the genus homo, or human, emerged in the Pliocene Period. The first members of the Pliocene were homo rudolfenis and homo habilis. The homo rudolfenis and homo habilis were shorter than modern day humans and made chipped wooden tools. About 1.8 million years ago, homo erectus appeared, and developed into homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. The subspecies of the Pleistocene’s icy climate phases, the Neanderthal, lived from 300,000 to 200,000 years ago. Modern humans had evolved in Africa by 100,000 years ago.