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Description

Disclaimer: All skull images used to make this timeline/evolutionary tree are public domain and I take no credit for any of them.

Now obliviously given the overall fragmented nature of the remains of our genus this chart is in no way conclusive and obviously is open to criticism from others, if there are any mistakes I have made such as a specie’s relation to another or the geological range of a species please inform me so I can correct it. For now, however I am fairly confident with how accurate this phylogenetic tree turned out. Thanks to the large amount of discoveries made in recent years a fairly clear idea of how one specie diversified into several has been gained. For example, it is now known that Neanderthals are not the same specie as us or our ancestors, we now know that Homo floresiensis did not derive from Homo erectus and that archaic humans interbred with modern one.

It is worth noting that when possible I have chosen to use two specimens of each species to not just demonstrate their entire geological range but also to show how the entire population of one species does not just turn into another but continues alongside the newly evolved specie. Of course some species are known from very limited remains so this was not always possible. This tree would still function perfectly fine with only one specimen for each specie but albeit with a lot less branches.

I have chosen to include many of the more dubious taxon such as H. erectus yuanmouensis and H. rhodesiensis because even if these species are not valid I felt it was important to highlight the variety between populations in one species partially H. erectus and these dubious species in some cases also represent transitional forms from one valid species to another. Many as to yet be named specimens have also been included based on their morphological differences that may in some cases justify a new species but also because of their importance such as in the case of Atapuerca Jawbone the earliest evidence of H. erectus in Europe.

Things Worth Noting:

As all of the earliest hominins are known from very fragmented evidence I haven’t chosen to declare any of them as our direct ancestor even though it mostly was Sahelanthropus if not something very similar to it. Our earliest confirmed ancestor (provided you accept we evolved from Australopithecus) would be A. anamensis, the most basal and oldest Australopithecine.

H. rudolfensis likely represents its own specie based off of a newly discovered juvenile specimen but it is uncertain whether it is even a member of Homo because of how primate its features are.

H. erectus georgicus or just H. georgicus is represented by the Dmanisi fossils. These are the oldest specimens of Homo found outside of Africa and are actually older than any specimen of H. erectus ergaster which georgicus is assumed to have descended from. However, it is likely that we simply are yet to discover the first specimens of H. erectus ergaster in Africa which would have been ancestral to georgicus.

The Red Dear Cave People are a bit of a mystery, it is still not confirmed whether that represent a completely separate species, or if they are just a form of archaic H. sapiens and because the specimens have been cut up, cooked and painted on by early H. sapiens mtDNA has not yet been extracted. But for now at least I believe them to represent a hybrid between H. sapiens and H. sp Altai. I am aware H. sp Altai does contribute about 3-5 percent of DNA in modern Aboriginals but this specimen I feel represents a hybrid before the H. sp Altai genes had been watered down by H. sapien one.

Homo Sapiens Origin
The earliest example of Homo sapiens fossils is the Jebel Irhoud specimens which were found in Morocco and date to as early as 315 thousand years old. These specimens differ from modern humans however in that they have a much lower longer skull with a significantly pronounced supraorbital ridge and projecting facial profile. These specimens are not modern Homo sapiens sapiens but rather represent very early or as some call them “Archaic Homo sapiens”. Jebel Irhoud is very similar to the Ndutu cranium from Tanzania which is dated to around 350-400 thousand years old. Ndutu represents are very late Homo heidelbergensis/rhodesiensis and is possible a transition to Archaic Homo sapiens like Jebel Irhoud.
The earliest anatomically modern human (AMH) or Homo sapiens sapiens is likely the Omo 1 specimen from Ethiopia and dated to around 195 thousand years old. From there AMH began to spread throughout Africa replacing and possibly interbreeding with the remaining Archaic Homo sapiens populations which still survived until as recently 13 thousand years ago being represented by specimens in Africa such as the Iwo Eleru skull, Laetoil Hominin 18 and the Eliye Springs skull.
AMH began to leave Africa around 100 thousand years ago possible earlier and is represented in the Middle East by specimens like Skhul 5 and Qafzeh 6 which do possess features like produced brow ridges but are still within the range for Modern Homo sapien sapiens. AMH possibly arrived in China around 100 years ago being represented by various teeth and a partial mandible, specimen Zhiren 3 which may be the ancestors of the Modern Chinese or it could just represent an early population of AMH that arrived in china and were later replaced by the ancestors of the Modern Chinese.
AMH arrived in Europe as early as 45 thousand years being represented by specimens like the Kents Cavern 1 and then later interbreed with the native Neanderthals producing hybrids such as Oase 1 who’s decedents lead to Modern Europeans. The recently discovered Lida Ajer Cave teeth discovered on Flores Island provide evidence suggesting AMH arrived in Indonesia 63 to 73 thousand years ago meaning that AMH possibly coexisted with the native Homo Floresiensis for 13 to 23 thousand years before they become extinct around 50 thousand years ago. The earliest human remains found in Australia such as Lake Mungo 3 are dated to around 40 to 68 thousand years ago which cross confirms archaeological evidence suggesting AMH arrived in Australia around 50-68 thousand years ago. The earliest AMH to reach the Americas arrived around 13 thousand years ago being represented by the Arlington Springs Man however these people were genetically much closer with people from Europe rather than the Native American’s whose ancestors arrived around 9 thousand years ago replacing this earlier population of AMH.
Modern Africans are the most genetically diverse people in the world, this of course makes sense if you accept that their ancestors never left Africa so unlike other genetically isolated populations of people whose ancestors where small groups of travellers the ancestors of Modern Africans were able to breed with the people of an entire continent. As a result, many of the AMH fossils found in Africa that are younger than 100 thousand years possess a mosaic of characteristics, a testament to their diversity. The Singa skull represents a sort of transition between early AMH such as Omo 1 and the skulls of Modern Africans, possessing traits associated with Modern Africans and earlier AMH such as squared eye sockets and slightly projecting facial profile. The Hofmeyr skull dated to around 36 thousand years ago has more features that align with Modern Europeans rather than Modern Africans and is likely closely affiliated with the ancestors of Modern Europeans who left Africa.
The Idea of Race
I suppose it is impossible to discuss the dispersal of AMH across the globe without addressing the concept of race. Personally I believe that race is completely arbitrary concept, I believe this because modern human beings are not in these isolated buckets completely separate from each other, in truth we are all connected in this one race and all the variation between various population can just be accepted as variation, not more than that between two individuals of the same “Race”. I don’t want to sound preachy and pretentious but I just felt like I should voice my thoughts on this subject. We may all once have been separate, kept apart be geography but in the modern connected world there has been so much mixing of “Races” that it many cases it’s impossible to tell what “Race” a particular individual is. The fact is unless you are a member of a community left isolated on an island or in the middle of the Amazon or the Australian desert you are not a member of a distinct race separate from all other humans. When dividing modern humans up into various categories you have to take into account all the insignificant differences between various individuals leaving you with no choice but to divided us up into hundreds of thousands of races. Or you could just take the much simpler route and categorise us all into one race, accepting all the variation you see between us as simply the result of various populations remaining isolated for a period of time but now that we are no longer isolated we are all connected as one global race.

Because of the poor quality of the image here feel free to download it if you want to have a closer look.

Description

Disclaimer: All skull images used to make this timeline/evolutionary tree are public domain and I take no credit for any of them.

Now obliviously given the overall fragmented nature of the remains of our genus this chart is in no way conclusive and obviously is open to criticism from others, if there are any mistakes I have made such as a specie’s relation to another or the geological range of a species please inform me so I can correct it. For now, however I am fairly confident with how accurate this phylogenetic tree turned out. Thanks to the large amount of discoveries made in recent years a fairly clear idea of how one specie diversified into several has been gained. For example, it is now known that Neanderthals are not the same specie as us or our ancestors, we now know that Homo floresiensis did not derive from Homo erectus and that archaic humans interbred with modern one.

It is worth noting that when possible I have chosen to use two specimens of each species to not just demonstrate their entire geological range but also to show how the entire population of one species does not just turn into another but continues alongside the newly evolved specie. Of course some species are known from very limited remains so this was not always possible. This tree would still function perfectly fine with only one specimen for each specie but albeit with a lot less branches.

I have chosen to include many of the more dubious taxon such as H. erectus yuanmouensis and H. rhodesiensis because even if these species are not valid I felt it was important to highlight the variety between populations in one species partially H. erectus and these dubious species in some cases also represent transitional forms from one valid species to another. Many as to yet be named specimens have also been included based on their morphological differences that may in some cases justify a new species but also because of their importance such as in the case of Atapuerca Jawbone the earliest evidence of H. erectus in Europe.

Things Worth Noting:

As all of the earliest hominins are known from very fragmented evidence I haven’t chosen to declare any of them as our direct ancestor even though it mostly was Sahelanthropus if not something very similar to it. Our earliest confirmed ancestor (provided you accept we evolved from Australopithecus) would be A. anamensis, the most basal and oldest Australopithecine.

H. rudolfensis likely represents its own specie based off of a newly discovered juvenile specimen but it is uncertain whether it is even a member of Homo because of how primate its features are.

H. erectus georgicus or just H. georgicus is represented by the Dmanisi fossils. These are the oldest specimens of Homo found outside of Africa and are actually older than any specimen of H. erectus ergaster which georgicus is assumed to have descended from. However, it is likely that we simply are yet to discover the first specimens of H. erectus ergaster in Africa which would have been ancestral to georgicus.

The Red Dear Cave People are a bit of a mystery, it is still not confirmed whether that represent a completely separate species, or if they are just a form of archaic H. sapiens and because the specimens have been cut up, cooked and painted on by early H. sapiens mtDNA has not yet been extracted. But for now at least I believe them to represent a hybrid between H. sapiens and H. sp Altai. I am aware H. sp Altai does contribute about 3-5 percent of DNA in modern Aboriginals but this specimen I feel represents a hybrid before the H. sp Altai genes had been watered down by H. sapien one.

Homo Sapiens Origin
The earliest example of Homo sapiens fossils is the Jebel Irhoud specimens which were found in Morocco and date to as early as 315 thousand years old. These specimens differ from modern humans however in that they have a much lower longer skull with a significantly pronounced supraorbital ridge and projecting facial profile. These specimens are not modern Homo sapiens sapiens but rather represent very early or as some call them “Archaic Homo sapiens”. Jebel Irhoud is very similar to the Ndutu cranium from Tanzania which is dated to around 350-400 thousand years old. Ndutu represents are very late Homo heidelbergensis/rhodesiensis and is possible a transition to Archaic Homo sapiens like Jebel Irhoud.
The earliest anatomically modern human (AMH) or Homo sapiens sapiens is likely the Omo 1 specimen from Ethiopia and dated to around 195 thousand years old. From there AMH began to spread throughout Africa replacing and possibly interbreeding with the remaining Archaic Homo sapiens populations which still survived until as recently 13 thousand years ago being represented by specimens in Africa such as the Iwo Eleru skull, Laetoil Hominin 18 and the Eliye Springs skull.
AMH began to leave Africa around 100 thousand years ago possible earlier and is represented in the Middle East by specimens like Skhul 5 and Qafzeh 6 which do possess features like produced brow ridges but are still within the range for Modern Homo sapien sapiens. AMH possibly arrived in China around 100 years ago being represented by various teeth and a partial mandible, specimen Zhiren 3 which may be the ancestors of the Modern Chinese or it could just represent an early population of AMH that arrived in china and were later replaced by the ancestors of the Modern Chinese.
AMH arrived in Europe as early as 45 thousand years being represented by specimens like the Kents Cavern 1 and then later interbreed with the native Neanderthals producing hybrids such as Oase 1 who’s decedents lead to Modern Europeans. The recently discovered Lida Ajer Cave teeth discovered on Flores Island provide evidence suggesting AMH arrived in Indonesia 63 to 73 thousand years ago meaning that AMH possibly coexisted with the native Homo Floresiensis for 13 to 23 thousand years before they become extinct around 50 thousand years ago. The earliest human remains found in Australia such as Lake Mungo 3 are dated to around 40 to 68 thousand years ago which cross confirms archaeological evidence suggesting AMH arrived in Australia around 50-68 thousand years ago. The earliest AMH to reach the Americas arrived around 13 thousand years ago being represented by the Arlington Springs Man however these people were genetically much closer with people from Europe rather than the Native American’s whose ancestors arrived around 9 thousand years ago replacing this earlier population of AMH.
Modern Africans are the most genetically diverse people in the world, this of course makes sense if you accept that their ancestors never left Africa so unlike other genetically isolated populations of people whose ancestors where small groups of travellers the ancestors of Modern Africans were able to breed with the people of an entire continent. As a result, many of the AMH fossils found in Africa that are younger than 100 thousand years possess a mosaic of characteristics, a testament to their diversity. The Singa skull represents a sort of transition between early AMH such as Omo 1 and the skulls of Modern Africans, possessing traits associated with Modern Africans and earlier AMH such as squared eye sockets and slightly projecting facial profile. The Hofmeyr skull dated to around 36 thousand years ago has more features that align with Modern Europeans rather than Modern Africans and is likely closely affiliated with the ancestors of Modern Europeans who left Africa.
The Idea of Race
I suppose it is impossible to discuss the dispersal of AMH across the globe without addressing the concept of race. Personally I believe that race is completely arbitrary concept, I believe this because modern human beings are not in these isolated buckets completely separate from each other, in truth we are all connected in this one race and all the variation between various population can just be accepted as variation, not more than that between two individuals of the same “Race”. I don’t want to sound preachy and pretentious but I just felt like I should voice my thoughts on this subject. We may all once have been separate, kept apart be geography but in the modern connected world there has been so much mixing of “Races” that it many cases it’s impossible to tell what “Race” a particular individual is. The fact is unless you are a member of a community left isolated on an island or in the middle of the Amazon or the Australian desert you are not a member of a distinct race separate from all other humans. When dividing modern humans up into various categories you have to take into account all the insignificant differences between various individuals leaving you with no choice but to divided us up into hundreds of thousands of races. Or you could just take the much simpler route and categorise us all into one race, accepting all the variation you see between us as simply the result of various populations remaining isolated for a period of time but now that we are no longer isolated we are all connected as one global race.

Because of the poor quality of the image here feel free to download it if you want to have a closer look.