Man, made: Getting face to face with Earth’s “great apes”

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Dec 18, 2013

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6.8 million years ago This is the earliest hominid we know of, labeled Sahelanthropus tchadensis. The remains of a crushed cranium and teeth, nicknamed Toumai (“hope of life” in the local language) were found 9 years ago in the Sahelian region of modern Chad, between the Sahara and the lusher regions to the south. “It’s not exactly the dividing point between humans and apes, but it’s pretty close,” Tattersall says. What made the Sahelanthropus different from apes is that it had a flat face and likely walked on two legs. It was primarily a vegetarian, with a small brain.

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3.2 million years ago This is the period of “Lucy,” the famous skeleton found in 1974 from the Afar Region of Ethiopia (full size rendering at right). The species is Australopithecus afarensis, “pithecus” meaning “ape” in Greek. The “austral” prefix means “southern,” as the first representative of this species was discovered in South Africa. “This is the first species for which we have a lot of different individuals,” Tattersall says. These early bipeds had shorter legs than us, but walked upright. “They weren’t much smarter than apes, but every day we discover things that apes can do that we didn’t know they could,” the curator says. “They were certainly the smartest creatures on the planet during their time.”

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2.5 million years ago From the same period, this is a member of a more robustly-built group than Lucy. The model was built from a skull found on the western shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya in 1985. He had a strong bite and could chew sinewy plants. It was around this period that the first, very primitive tools were used, likely to dismember carcasses of small animals. “It’s the first indication that we have advanced,” Tattersall says.

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2.5 million years ago This model, from a skeleton called “Mrs. Ples,” was found in South Africa in 1947. Sediment traces found on the inside of her cranium indicate to scientists that she died by falling into a limestone cavity. She is part of the Australopithecus africanus group, related to afarensis.

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1.9 million years ago This is a controversial find, labeled Homo rudolfensis, because some scientists believe this an early species in our own genus. Tattersall is not so sure. “It’s not particularly diagnosable.” Found in Koobi Fora, Kenya, in 1972, this adult male used stone tools and ate meat as well as plants. This is important because the changing of the stomach is nearly as important as the brain. We went from herbivores to omnivores, which broadened our dietary choices and — according to some theories — gave us more energy and developed our bodies.

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1.8 million years ago This model is based on a historically significant find, “Zinj,” in 1959. It’s of an adult male who lived in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, who ate seeds, plants and roots he dug out with bones. “It was the first really important find in east Africa,” Tattersall says. This period is also the first in which scientists have found evidence of hominids outside of Africa, in modern-day Georgia between the Caspian and Black seas.

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1.6 million years ago Found in 1984, this was “exciting, because it was the first hominid that we know had body proportions like our own,” Tattersall says. Called “Turkana Boy,” this is based on the near-complete skeleton of a male aged about 8, found in Kenya. Some believe he is of the species Homo erectus, or at least one close to it. What’s important here is that hominids have moved out of the trees, and the longer legs mean they can start traveling larger distances on the open savannah.

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800,000 years ago In a relatively short period of time, longer-limbed hominids spread rapidly. “Once humans got out of Africa, they really covered the old world very quickly,” Tattersall says. This is based on the skull of a Homo erectus found in Java, Indonesia, called “Sangiran 17.” He lived around the time that fire was first domesticated.

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500,000-350,000 years ago This is a precursor to the Neanderthal, found at Sima de los Huesos in Spain, in 1993. Called “Miquelon,” he was around 5-foot-7 and was found with 31 others, possibly in a burial site. By 400,000 years ago, there was routine use of fire. Until about 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals had Europe to themselves.

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100,000-90,000 years ago These remains of a young woman, found in Israel in 1969, is very close anatomically to modern humans, Tattersall says. “They look modern, but they’re behaving in the old way,” he says. So what set Homo sapiens, which were developing in Africa at this time, apart? Cognitive development. The first simple geometrical engravings appear in Africa around 70,000 to 80,000 years ago. By 40,000, when Homo sapiens spread to Europe, full-fledged cave painting emerged, followed eventually by written language.

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18,000 years ago The famous “hobbit” of the Liang Bua cave in Flores, Indonesia. Discovered in 2003, this 3-foot-tall skeleton captured popular imagination, suggesting that another species survived on Earth with Homo sapiens until about 12,000 years ago. And there may be more! This week scientists announced that the fossilized finger of a woman in Siberia, dubbed “X-Woman” may be another species besides Neaderthal and Homo erectus that co-existed with Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago — meaning modern humans had company more recently than scientists originally assumed. “The hominid group is very experimental. It’s quite a diverse family tree,” Tattersall says. Still, only Homo sapiens persisted, developing language, agriculture, the wheel and the hot dog. “We’re the surviving twig.”

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56,000 years ago An example of how our understanding of ancient hominids can change over time. The “Old Man of La Chapelle” was found near La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France, in 1908. Because of his bones, scientists thought that Neanderthals were hunched. Only later did they realize that he was relatively old (40 to 50) and had arthritis and broken bones, and was not typical of the species. But Neanderthal dominance was short-lived. Once Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 40,000, it took only about 10,000 years for Neanderthals to vanish. There’s no direct evidence of conflict; it could simply have been survival of the smartest.

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