Hominids: 2009

Early Human Wanted Poster

Here are some pictures of what the various hominids might have looked like. You can use these for reference when drawing your "Wanted" poster.

Some older hominids had a prognathic shaped jaw, while the more modern hominds had a parabolic jaw. If your hominid had heavy brow ridges, their brows stuck out from above their eyes. Many hominids had a brain crest. That is where the mandibular (jaw) muscles attached to the skull (on the top of the head). As humans became more human, the brain crest flattened out because our jaws no longer needed to chew roots. Strong jaws equal a pronounced brain crest.

Australopithecus afarensis

Lucy
3.5 feet tall
Long apelike arms
Prognathic, not parabolic shaped mouth
Brain the size of a softball
Walked bipedal (hominid)
Heavy brow ridges
Brain crest
Lived in Africa, about 3 to 4 million years ago

Homo habilis

a.k.a. "the Handy Man"
First stone tools - very primitive
Scavengers (ate bone marrow)
Had human and apelike features
Lived in groups
Larger brain
Smaller teeth
More parabolic (wider) mouth
Lighter brow ridges
4 - 4 1/2 feet tall
Lived about 1.5 to 2 million years ago

Homo erectus

a.k.a. Upright Man
More sophisticated stone tools
Larger brain
First to use fire (protection, heat, cooking)
First to leave Africa
Bigger brain
More parabolic (wider) mouth
Smaller teeth
Taller (more meat in diet)
Lived from 1.8 million to 200,000 B.C.E. and were around longer than other hominids

Homo sapiens sapiens

a.k.a. Homo Sapien Cro-Magnon, Doubly Wise Man
Very sophisticated tools (even sewing needles and musical instruments)
Hunter-gathers
Lived in larger groups
Originated in Africa, but migrated to Europe, Asia, and Australia, eventually ending up in North and South America
Very nearly modern human in brain size
Very slight brow ridges
Flatter faced
Could be dressed up and mistaken for modern (Think Geico Cave Man)
Lived from 35,000 to 12, 000 B.C.E.