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As more and more fossil ancestors have been found, our genus has become more and more inclusive, incorporating more members that look less like us, Homo sapiens. By getting to know these other hominins–the ones who came before us–we can start to answer some big questions about what it essentially means to be human.
Thanks as always to Nobu Tamura for allowing us to use his wonderful paleoart: http://spinops.blogspot.com/
Thanks to Julio Lacerda and Studio 252mya for the hominin illustrations. You can find more of Julio’s work here: https://252mya.com/gallery/julio-lacerda
Produced for PBS Digital Studios.
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References:
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/australopithecus-sediba
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-rudolfensis
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-erectus
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-habilis
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/knm-er-1813
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/knm-er-1470
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/footprints/laetoli-footprint-trails
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/al-288-1
https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-ergaster/
https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/redefining-homo-does-our-family-tree-need-more-branches
https://medium.com/@johnhawks/the-plot-to-kill-homo-habilis-94a33bee2adf
Antón, S. C., Potts, R., & Aiello, L. C. (2014). Evolution of early Homo: an integrated biological perspective. Science, 345(6192), 1236828.
Gibbons, A. (2015). Deep roots for the genus Homo.
Haile-Selassie, Y., Latimer, B. M., Alene, M., Deino, A. L., Gibert, L., Melillo, S. M., … & Lovejoy, C. O. (2010). An early Australopithecus afarensis postcranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(27), 12121-12126.
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Villmoare, B., Kimbel, W. H., Seyoum, C., Campisano, C. J., DiMaggio, E. N., Rowan, J., … & Reed, K. E. (2015). Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia. Science, 347(6228), 1352-1355.
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