Hominins Evolution

During the Miocene epoch which had taken place 23-5 million years ago. During this time it was much warmer and dryer than the previous epoch and that cause an increase in grasslands. This increase in grasslands lead to apes leaving the trees, which would be sparse, and heading to the ground to hunt for food. This change lead to an increase and diversification of apes during the epoch.

Soon there a divergence from the great ape line and that was the emerging hominins in the late Miocene. Hominins are a group of primates that includes humans and their ancestors since diverging from their last common ancestor with chimpanzees, about 6 million years ago.

Within the classification of hominins is the early hominins of Australopithecus, Ardipithecus,

tchadensis chronologically, dating back to about 4.4 million years ago. Ar. ramidus has a cranial capacity of 300-350 cc, which is smaller than that of the S. tchadensis. It also has canines that are smaller relative to that of a chimpanzee, and a cheek that is not nearly as enlarged as later australopithecines. Due to the larger canines the face of Ar. ramidus is much smaller and does not have as much pronation as the Australopithecus. Between 4.2 and 1.4 million years ago there were many hominins around including Homo, Australopithecus, and Paranthropus. At this point hominins were a very diverse group including many different species within a genus. The Australopithecus has five species that are generally recognized and that all share relatively common features. One such of these features is its small brain and large face size, and is general smaller than that of the modern human. The teeth are also a more primitive than modern humans. The earlier species of Australopithecus the larger of canines, and more surface area for

afarensis led to what would later be a split in the species. Where one species led to the genus Paranthropus and another led to a later Australopithecus that later evolved into early Homo. Of course that is just conjecture, it is however known that Paranthropus was a later dead end of hominin evolution. Paranthropus translates to “beside humans,” due to them sharing many characteristic with Australopithecus and some even classify them among the Australopithecus, sometimes adding the prefix of “robust.” The reason for the term robust is because they had strong, robust back teeth, jaws, and face relative to other hominins. The Paranthropus line went extinct around 1.4 million years ago. Knowing our early hominin ancestors is as important as knowing about who your own great, great grandfather was. It does not change anything we know about ourselves, but it does change how we see our world. To know our past, which includes our far off cousins, helps us find our place in the world. It is with that in mind that we go in search for our own origins. If we can see where we came from, then we will know where we are