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Prehistory | Early History | Evolution


Source:Handprint : Ancestral Lines

Members of the hominid family, Homo Erectus and Homo heidelbergensis that are from 500,000 1.6 million years old have been found in Europe and Asia. There are two theories for for the origin of homo sapien.

Prehistory:

Earliest know ancestor in the bipedal, upright, hominid family (see taxonomy) is Sahelanthropus tchadensis, which lived about 6-7 M years ago in Chad, Africa.

See Fossil Sites in Biology

Pierolapithecus Catalaunicus (13 M B.C.) is discovered in Spain.
  It is believed by some to be the link between early humans and the apes
  (gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees families.)

Homo Erectus (1.6 M B.C.)  is believed to have evolved into a separate species 
in Java, Indonesia.  Remains are verified in Java and Turkana, Kenya.
1,000,000 B.C. Some people suggest Homo Erectus is differentiated between 
  Homo Erectus African and Homo Erectus Asian about this period.
  Others suggest they evolved from separate species. 
900,000 B.C.  - Growing evidence suggests Homo Erectus (Ceprano) likely roamed 
  Italy, Germany, Spain and Britain about this time.
800,000 B.C.  Homo Erectus Stone tools are discovered in southern China.
500,000 B.C.  Pithecanthropus (Homo Erectus), using the hand-axe, in
   Indonesia, China, Africa, and Europe.
400,000 B.C. Homo Neanderthals of Schoningen, Germany are using precisely designed
  throwing spears. 

270,000 B.C. Homo sapiens (archaic) Analysis of mans Y chromosome suggests homo sapiens (modern man as opposed to modern homo sapiens) originated about this time. 250,000 B.C. Stone tools are being used in England. 150,000 - There is some circumstantial evidence of migration from Australia to China. 200-50,000 B.C. Evolution of Modern Homo sapiens 59,000 B.C. Some genetic theorists believe modern man emigrated from Africa about this time and dispersed around the world by 50,000 B.C. based on the X chromosome. 60-40,000 B.C. - Australia 30-23,000 B.C. Cro-Magnon (France) 20-15,000 B.C. N. America The DNA studies suggests America is populated 18,000 to 13,000 B.C. which is not supported by the hard facts that supports a much earlier population.
1. The fossils from Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia contain a mixture of anatomical features from erectus and habilis. They could arguably be considered to belong either to primitive H. erectus (or H. ergaster), or to a new species, Homo georgicus.

Out of Africa:
As of 2006 there were still two leading contradictory models, around since the early 1980's, that attempt to explain modern human evolution beyond Africa:

  1. The regional continuity (or multiregional evolution) model.
    Proposes that modern humans evolved more or less simultaneously in all major regions of the Old World from local archaic Homo sapiens.
  2. The replacement model (Lucy or out of Africa theory)
    Proposes that modern humans evolved from archaic Homo sapiens 200,000-150,000 years ago only in Africa and then some of them migrated into the rest of the Old World replacing all of the Neandertals and other late archaic Homo sapiens beginning around 100,000 years ago.
    This is the dominant view now.

    There are differing theories on whether there was a single exodus or several. A multiple dispersal model involves the Southern Dispersal theory,[68] which has gained support in recent years from genetic, linguistic and archaeological evidence. In this theory, there was a coastal dispersal of modern humans from the Horn of Africa around 70,000 years ago. This group helped to populate Southeast Asia and Oceania, explaining the discovery of early human sites in these areas much earlier than those in the Levant. A second wave of humans dispersed across the Sinai peninsula into Asia, resulting in the bulk of human population for Eurasia.

See Also: Haplogroups in DNA Genealogy.

See:
Evolution
taxonomy
Handprint : Ancestral Lines (Chart of Human Evolution)
Asian Expansion of Homo Erectus
Early Development of Man
Mungo Man - The missing link
Evolution of Modern Humans: Early Modern Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens sapiens (Hss) Events

Early History

Around 5-3,000 BC cultures had developed in China, Egypt and Mesopotamia (Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians).

Acording to the bible, Mohammad, founder of Islam, was descended from Abrahm's first son Ishmael (2080 BC-). The current Arabs come from this line.

The 12 sons of Abraham's grandson, Jacob (Israel) (2006-1859 BC), formed the 12 tribes of Israel.

According to The Milesian Legends the Scots originated in Scythia, an area between the Black and Caspian Sea in what is now Southern Russia, (2,400+ BC - 1,800 BC) and came to Scotland via Galicia (Spain) (1,800 BC - 1,700 BC) and Ireland (1,700 BC - 500 AD).

Around 930 BCE, Israel splits in the Southern Kingdom (Judah) Including Jerusalem and the area south (Tribes of Judah & Benjamin) and the Northern Kingdom (Israel) (other 10 tribes).
According to some, to day's Jews are descendants of Judah.

After the Babylonian conquest, 586 B.C., the southern tribes were scattered throughout asia and then Europe and became known by different names, like Saxons, Khumri, Danes, Kimmerians, Angles, Jutes, and all of the various tribal groups that seem to appear out of nowhere in history.

Anglo-Israelites of various persuasions, both in England and the United States, have at least one thing in common. They believe that the modern Anglo-Saxons are the direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and are therefore, "God's Chosen People."

Links:
World History
Wars and Empires

Books:
From Lucy to Language, 1996, by Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar
"The Dawn of Humans." National Geographic, February 1997


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last updated 24 Mar 2006